George H.W. Bush: “Well, I'm not sure of that. I think there was a lot of pounding on me, five Democrats, one Republican, and a certain…”

“Well, I'm not sure of that. I think there was a lot of pounding on me, five Democrats, one Republican, and a certain editorial policy up there that for 9 weeks did nothing but hit me, with no defense on my part. Some of these Congressmen with me today said, ``Hey, since when has an 18-point victory been considered anything other than a landslide?'' Now, I'm not saying that I wouldn't have liked to do better. But I'm satisfied with the results. And now we're down here, and we're going to take this guy on in every single State. I'd have to do a little definition of who it is because all I did was lay back and get hammered by these Democrats and to some degree by Pat. And so, it's a new ball game, and we're coming out strong. I must say that I feel good today. I thought I might be a little down because of the earliest reports that some of you all put on the air and some of your interpretations. Now, with an 18-point win, most people say, ``Hey, that's not bad.'' Try to sell some guy over here that an 18- point victory in a political race isn't anything other than a good victory. So, we're going to go forward now. The other thing I've got to do, though, I do think I have to do better, is get this message to the country and particularly these southern States, if you want an election contest, about what we're trying to do to help people that are hurting, what we're trying to do in the Congress to enlist support to get our sound proposals through and beat back the Democratic proposals. And the last point is, it's a little ironic that the Democratic frontrunner, and could well be the party standard bearer, opposes what the Democrats in the House of Representatives are doing. I mean, they're out of step with their own leader at this point. So, there are mixed signals. But look, I've been in tough fights before, Rita [Rita Beamish, Associated Press], and I'm looking forward to this one.”