Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to my colleague, Senator Byron Dorgan. This is his last day voting in the Senate. He is retiring after serving the people of North Dakota in the Congress, the House, and Senate, for 30 years. But Byron's record in North Dakota goes even beyond that--another 12 years in State office, so a total of 42 years of serving the people of North Dakota. I want to first say I am not objective when it comes to Byron Dorgan because he is my best friend. We have been friends and allies for all of those 42 years. In 1968 I was running a campaign to lower the voting age in North Dakota and first met Byron Dorgan, a young tax commissioner--very young, in his twenties, appointed after the previous tax commissioner took his life. Byron had extraordinary responsibility thrust on him at a very young age, the youngest statewide official in our State's history. Byron disposed of those responsibilities with real distinction, becoming recognized as the most influential State leader, even more influential than the Governor of the State, by a major publication in North Dakota. I met Byron Dorgan in that year and was so struck by his ability, his charisma, and his vision for our State and our Nation that I thought: This is somebody I want to work with in my career. We started a friendship that has lasted to this day. In 1970 I was helping run the reelection campaign of Senator Quentin Burdick, who served in this Chamber for more than 30 years.…”