Campaign Challenges Quotes

In running for Congress, you have to raise over $2 million. You are going to end up shaking hands with people with whom you would rather not shake hands. 95 percent of all the candidates with the most money, win.

It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency." —George W. Bush, June 14, 2001, speaking to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Perrson, unaware that a live television camera was still rolling.

It's hard running as an independent. I wouldn't have won the Senate election if I hadn't been governor. I had credibility. The hard part is getting voters to the point where they think it's thinkable and not a waste of time.

It is not easy to fight elections with a development motto and I am glad people of Gujarat rose above personal and emotional tangles and prioritized development over everything else.

I was not a Democrat; I was an independent. Here's the thing: You can't win that way. But I didn't know that.

I'm sure that they will continue to look for ways to try and undermine my support, but I have every confidence that in doing this job for South Dakota, I will continue to build on my support and be able to succeed once again in November.

The stronger Hillary is, the weaker she is. The more she seems like a likely presidential winner, the more difficult the senate race becomes in New York. It's perfect.

I kept working during my campaign because I needed to feed my family. As a single mom of three kids, I have a lot of child care that I needed to juggle, and I was a first-time candidate.

The Kerry campaign was a difficult one to be involved with, it is a real juggling act to set the tone and pace of these things accurately.

Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way. When you're out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory.

As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump is going to get tough questions from the press and has to answer them.

National campaigns are tough. Yes, you have to be prepared to be attacked, and I have to tell you, if you get elected, you have to also be prepared.

I'm completely perplexed how someone who has most of the mainstream media for Hillary Clinton, well all the mainstream media, well most of the media for her, she's got a sitting president - a sitting First Lady far more popular than she'll ever supposed to be, a former president also her husband, the sitting vice president, a thousand people working in Brooklyn, she has all these states locked up and she can't crack 50% and stay there.

There are certain things that don't mix well with MS. One is staying up late at night. Another is big, noisy crowds. Well, campaigns are staying up late at night and big noisy crowds.

In some ways, backing the Trump campaign was even harder than battling for Brexit. I received almost total condemnation, including from many senior figures in my own party.

I'm going to have to campaign to teach Bolivians who the president is, because apparently they haven't realized I'm here yet.

It's a very tough thing to run for office, but it's also the way the American people get to know you.

There were times (during my early campaigns) when I thought, "You know what I could really use? A wife."

[Hillary] Clinton has also struggled with key groups of voters.

If you run for public office today you must be prepared for a massive invasion of privacy.

An American presidential campaign resembles a forced march through enemy country.

A media-only campaign has its advantages, but it also has its very severe disadvantages.

There were the questions of what kind of First Lady I would be, what issues would I focus on. Those were the questions that were being pounded on me through the campaign. A lot of times, I wondered what in the world Barack was even getting us into.

The point of a presidential campaign is to put the candidate through the ringer: to force him to get banged up by his opponents and the press, and to have to answer the difficult and uncomfortable questions, be investigated, and learn the thrust and parry of political swordplay.