MARK SHIELDS

Everybody who served in John Kerry's boat under his command, save one, has stood with him.

I think any advocate who is effective has fully acquainted himself or herself with the legislator they are going to meet. Know what committees they are on, what issues they are interested in, all in an effort to build a bridge for communicating with them.

George Bush says what John Kerry did was noble. Yet he sees him being savaged by his own supporters.

I didn't realize the president was such an historian.

Iraq is in a civil war. There is no road in that country that is safe.

Character is destiny and character is important to American campaigns.

As Bill Clinton said so eloquently at the convention, during Vietnam there was a chance to serve; there was a chance not to serve.

When the size of the group supporting your cause reaches a critical mass, any legislator or elected official has to pay attention.

You've got people who didn't serve with John Kerry saying they did serve with John Kerry in the boat. With George Bush, we can't find anybody who did serve with him.

The advantage that hospitals have over other institutions is that hospitals are community-based. You can't outsource your work; you can't move your emergency department to Pakistan.

Let's not pretend that all of a sudden, this is some new system.

You can't have someone with a pinkie out there at the U.N. or any other place.

In the 2004 presidential election, we saw a wonderful example of citizens making contributions. In fact, individual giving to both the Kerry and Bush campaigns was the highest in our nation's history.

When you run for president of the United States, everybody does the same thing in the campaign-they talk about veterans, how much they admire them, how grateful they are.

Since the election, since the formation of a government, the death in Iraq has increased. The United States stands by, helpless to do anything about it. That's the reality, not George Bush's revisionist history!

There's no question that Stalin broke the agreements made at Yalta completely about elections that were supposed to be held immediately in Poland, and Eastern Europe was plunged into slavery as a consequence.

John Kerry's biography was central to his campaign.

There is always strength in numbers. The more individuals or organizations that you can rally to your cause, the better.

What you have is two men seeking the White House; they're both products of prominent New England families. They both went to private boarding schools. They both went to a prestigious university.

John McCain was victimized in the South Carolina primary.

George Bush is trying to play it both ways.

If I were John Bolton, I'd take great consolation in the words of my principal supporter on the committee, who gave a ringing endorsement, which was, There is no evidence that he has broken any laws.

The important thing to understand about legislators is that there are dozens of competing interests and issues that occupy them. They are stretched thin.

John McCain has become the de facto running mate of George W. Bush.

Bipartisanship is like marriage. It takes two to make it work. It only takes one to make it a failure. The President has been playing politics with foreign policy.