Quotes by Carol Braun

• There are a number of steps that we can take to reinvigorate and rebuild the economic and the physical infrastructure of our country and then to rebuild us, frankly, on a spiritual level.
• Illinois has less than a 12 percent black population and I won with 55 percent of the vote.
• Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible.
• New Zealand, by the way, where I was ambassador, has had two women prime ministers - one from either party.
• People just want to hear some common sense... and I bring to bear the experience in local government and state government and national government - I was the first woman in history on the Senate Finance Committee - not to mention the diplomatic international experience.
• So I think that if we want to have a Congress, if we want to have government that looks like America, if we want to have government that is truly a representative Democracy, then we need to clearly address how we get our campaign laws out of the way of Democracy.
• The fact is that the diversity in this political class serves the same interest as diversity in any arena, which is it stirs the competitive pot.
• The failure in Ohio to have adequate voting capacity for the people who were registered and eligible to vote was an absolute denial of their right to vote.
• The notion that we won the war against Iraq is like saying we won a war against Arizona. I mean, the fact of the matter is it's not that big of a country. Nobody, I don't think, had any notion that we would do anything but win it.
• Well, if you pick a fight with somebody that's smaller than you and you beat them, where's the honor in that?
• The reason that minorities and women don't have a better shot at getting elected to the Senate or to statewide office is because the campaign finance rules are so skewed as to make it very difficult for non-traditional candidates to raise the money necessary to get elected.
• To me, that means getting back to the point where our Constitution means that you don't tap people's phones and poke into their e-mail and you don't arrest people and keep them hidden for a year and a half without charging them.
• We must invest in infrastructure development and rebuilding communities to create jobs.
• We're failing our children with education, we're failing our environment.
• If we can rebuild Iraq, we can rebuild Illinois and Indiana and if we can do Baghdad, we can do Baltimore.
• I'm used to people not paying me a whole lot of attention and underestimating me and, frankly, for me a big challenge is to have people believe that I can be the president of the United States.
• The really important victory of the civil rights movement was that it made racism unpopular, whereas a generation ago at the turn of the last century, you had to embrace racism to get elected to anything.
• I believe that our message of rebuilding America is one that will resonate with the American people.
• It's not impossible for a woman - a Black woman - to become President.
• I'm committed to universal health coverage and education.
• Bush is giving the rich a tax cut instead of putting that cut in the pockets of working people.
• I really think that's the key, part of the spiritual renewal that America needs to have, the notion that we really can have confidence in a better tomorrow.
• I think Americans want to believe in this country again.
• I think if we are actually going to accept our generation's responsibility, that's going to mean that we give our children no less retirement security than we inherited from our parents.
• I think it does suggest that the American people really do want to listen to somebody who actually has some solutions, some answers, and gives them some hope.
• I think that we have a responsibility to make certain that we are fiscally responsible in order to assure, frankly, future generations don't have to pay our bills.
• I want people who believe in my message and where I am on issues to support me.
• I want to rebuild America.
• I was the only person of color in the Senate, and my colleagues were Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms and Trent Lott.
• I was very productive as a senator for my state.
• I'd come back after having served as ambassador to New Zealand and found that I had real concerns about the direction in which this country was headed.
• All I really want to be is boring. When people talk about me, I'd like them to say, Carol's basically a short Bill Bradley. Or, Carol's kind of like Al Gore in a skirt.
• I'm a results-oriented person and my Senate record shows that.
• I think the legacy of the civil rights movement is that now whites are more open to being represented by people of color or people who are women or, again, non-traditional candidates.
• And frankly, being a woman I think gives me a slightly different take on a lot of the issues and on a lot of the solutions to the problems we face.