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Education has fundamentally changed my life. It's perhaps the mission of my life. I'm wed to it in a very powerful and personal way. And I chose the pathway that I believe could make me the most significant on changing the outcomes that we see now in North Carolina.

I need to be looking at what's important in North Carolina, and you better believe that's what I will do.

As governor, I'm spending my time focused in three areas: creating jobs, reducing the expense of government and schools.

Whenever I am among my fellow Governors, I am struck by how many face the same education improvement issues.

I concentrated on a lot of things, so very few people saw me as an education governor, an infrastructure governor.

I made education the highest priority of my campaign - actually education and jobs - and the reason is a simple one: I think the future of America depends on it.

You can expect to find these four priorities - education, economic vitality, efficiency in government and the protection of families - woven into my decisions as Governor. They will serve as my compass as I work with you to chart a future course for our state.

I ended up being the governor of a very ag state, Nebraska.

I acted on my core beliefs on social issues as governor.

The University of North Carolina provided me with every tool necessary to rise to the top of my profession.