Claire McCaskill: “I think you are excited about making this government more efficient and effective and more cost conscious.”

There is an over-classification problem, and I was surprised Secretary Gates didn't mention it.

I have won when the polls said I couldn't and I have lost when the polls said I would win, so I am not a big believer in all of the horse race stuff.

I think that, fundamentally, voters do understand that we have very, very low unemployment. They see it in their families, that everybody has jobs, everybody can get jobs, their jobs are paying slightly better.

This is never a referendum. Presidential elections, by the time they run around, is always, 'well, who do you like slightly better than the two you don't like?' So it is a binary choice.