Political Quotes

“Mr. President, colleagues who have been around for a while know that it is usually about this time of the year that I come to the floor to talk about my favorite sporting event. I am not talking about March Madness. I am talking about Alaska's version of March Madness, which is the Iditarod, when teams of dogs led by pretty able athletes embark on a thousand-mile mushing adventure across the wilds of Alaska, beginning down in Anchorage, all the way up to Nome. This year, it is not quite 1,000 miles. It is 998 miles, as they took the southern route, which they try to alternate during different years. But it has been an adventure for the 33 teams that ventured out just last Sunday, and I am here to announce that literally 10 minutes ago-- perhaps less than 10 minutes ago--the winner has just crossed the finish line under the burled arch in Nome. So Alaskans are excited. The Iditarod website has crashed because everybody was checking in to see if Ryan Redington had made it across, and I am here to announce that Ryan Redington is the winner of the 51st Iditarod race in Alaska. He and his team just, as I say, crossed. He has been in the lead for the past several days, but we are really, really quite excited about his win. I am looking forward to being able to give a call myself to congratulate him, but I know that right now his family, his friends, and everyone who is there in Nome to greet them after this 8-day journey are really quite excited.…”