Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman and the ranking member. This is a resolution recognizing Lance Mackey. I know Lance personally. As the chairman mentioned, last March he made Alaskan history by being the first person to win four consecutive Iditarod races. My friends, that's a little over 4,450 miles across nearly 1,200 miles of Alaskan wilderness from Willow to Nome. His exceptional fast time this year makes him only one of two finishers to finish the race in less than 9 days. Remember, this is over a thousand miles in less than 9 days. Lance was also the only person to have won the Yukon Quest four times, a thousand mile dogsled race from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon. In 2007 and 2008, he won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest in the same year within 2 weeks of one another, otherwise over 2,000 miles within 2 weeks. Lance Mackey was born and raised in Alaska and comes from a long line of successful mushers. His father, Dick, helped form the Iditarod race in 1973, and I have raced with Dick Mackey when he was there and I was a lot younger. His brother, Rick, along with his father, have each won the Iditarod race. Like both his father and mother, Lance won on his sixth day wearing lucky bib number 13. Mackey considers his dogs to be the true champions, and his team was guided this year by lead dogs Maple and Rev, who had big shoes to fill after the retirement of Larry, who led Lance's team during his first three Iditarod wins.…”