Jim Bolger Quotes

Politicians livelihoods depend on what people think.

If you are going to run for national office, you'd better understand that optimism is something Americans expect.

Donald Trump can ultimately make the case for himself.

The bottom line as far as I was concerned was presenting to the public who Gerry Ferraro was.

And it was, it was not beating George Bush, believe it or not, the bottom line as far as I was concerned was introducing to the public who Gerry Ferraro was.

Acceptance speeches can make or break presidential candidacies. It was Al Gore's 2000 acceptance speech that relaunched his candidacy and nearly saved him. John Kerry's speech and overall ineffective convention nearly sank him in 2004 (though he was almost saved by the debates).

We should remember the campaign advertising will be only a smaller portion of the President's total exposure.

There are three opportunities that you have during a general election campaign where you can substantially move the needle of public opinion. One, is your convention speech; two, are the base; three, is the selection of your vice president.

I don't think Obama will get re-elected.

I am running for re-election no matter who runs.

The big secret to winning elections is to get more votes than your opponent. My friend Representative Robin Hayes is a good example to study.

Of course we are looking to win support across every section of society. We win support by speaking to voters on the issues they most care about.

Society judges political parties based on the results that they give. When they don't meet the population's needs, when they are not up to expectations, that leaves society free to pick other parties.

For better or worse, when you're running for mayor, there's a little bit of a spotlight on you.

The candidate who is successful in defining the election is usually the winner.

A 30 second negative ad can matter more to a candidate's career than a lifetime voting record.

During a political campaign everyone is concerned with what a candidate will do on this or that question if he is elected except the candidate; he's too busy wondering what he'll do if he isn't elected

You can’t win a Presidential election in this country with just a base.

Without television, Richard Nixon would not have a chance. He would not have a prayer of being elected because the press would not let him get through to the people.

Campaign trains always give me a little feeling of a busy factory, because so many people are busily engaged in turning out ideas to meet different situations as they arrive. If you sit in the President's car and see streams of people go by and hear him ask the inevitable questions:—"How are things in your state; did the drought do much harm; what are you people counting on to help you in your recovery", and then see him picking up everybody's ideas, discarding some, remolding some into his own speeches, you realize that you are really watching an idea factory at work, through which the American people get a picture of the President's thinking, his character, and his plans for the future.

I got all the applause, but McKinley got the votes.

You can't win an election with money alone.

The losing side is comforted, I think, by this idea of magical gurus [masterminding the opponent’s campaign], because it’s less disconcerting than the fact that people just didn’t like them very much.

What will get you elected through a tough election cycle and what will get you kicked out when you should have won is whether your constituents feel like their Member of Congress respects them or not.

How a candidate runs shapes how a president governs.