Charles E. Schumer Quotes

Politicians do not like to alienate voters no matter how lofty the goals.

Rare is the election campaign that truly hinges on a single issue.

There's always that tension between policy and personality in politics, and as voters, we have that, too: we all vote on issues, but we also vote on whether we like the people who are put forward.

What matters most in politics is personality. It's not issues; it's not image. It's who you are and what you represent.

If you're going to try to win an election, you can't be 80 percent. You can't say, I'm for what my Democratic opponent is, for but not quite so much of it.

In every election in American history both parties have their cliches. The party that has the cliches that ring true wins.

If you are running for the presidency of the United States, you better have a strong opinion.

To be a party you have to have a national message.

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

Practical politics is the politics of the coming election.

Elections are not about solving anything. Elections are about winning.

Highly popular and unpopular Presidents do not engage in policy pandering.

You have to have candidates who can actually win. The winners make policy; the losers go home.

You can't win an election unless you have a message.

How a candidate runs shapes how a president governs.

People win elections based on having the right ideas, the right plans, like my seven step plan for 700,000 jobs. That's what wins elections.

Politicians used to be leaders. Now they follow voters, desperate for a tick in a box.

Everybody runs for political office knocking somebody, and very few run on 'This is what I stand for. This is what I believe will solve these problems.'

Elections are about the future. And the GOP will not win a campaign focused on the past.

It is clear from the reaction to our campaign so far that our message is resonating. I look forward to continuing to take this message to all Americans, and showing them that I can be as successful running the country as I was running the state of New Mexico.

I know I can serve Hawaii and our country well in the U.S. Senate, know we can mount a solid statewide campaign, know we have a good chance of prevailing.

The Washington establishment think Republicans win elections by you don't stand for anything, you keep your head down, you don't rock the boat. You know what? Every time we do that, we get clobbered in the polls.

In an age when stagecraft, gauzy themes, and sound-bites have too often been substituted for leadership, Bill Clinton as a candidate made it essential to campaigning to take the specifics of governance seriously. Practical solutions were 'in;' ideology was 'out.'

I don't think generally politician come from democratic country. I think not that thinking. But sometimes little bit short-sighted. They are mainly looking for their next vote.

If you can't be a populist in Arkansas, you ain't going to be a populist in Washington.