Political Quotes

“This lead editorial captured what we are trying to do. I note that the editorial writers specifically commended the Senator from Kentucky and point out the Senator from Kentucky and the Senator from Arizona are together on this bill and talked about the bipartisanship of this proposal. Many thought we could never actually come to the floor of the Senate with a proposal on election reform that would enjoy the cosponsorship of Democrats and Republicans, particularly when you consider what a partisan division there was in the country a year ago at this time coming off the November 2000 general election. So it is no small achievement. I know a lot of attention is being paid to campaign finance reform and the upcoming energy bill and other matters. Memories do fade, and certainly they have with regard to the emotions that ran so deeply and so passionately a year or so ago on one of the closest elections, if not the closest, in American history. Certainly there was the revelation that our system was in desperate need of repair. We are responding to that call a year later. But it took that long to sit down and work out differences and bring a product to the floor of the Senate.”