Quotes from Mark McKinnon

If you're running for office, it's tough to be an incumbent. It's tough to run out of Washington. It's better to be an outsider. And Establishment support doesn't help; it more likely hurts.

A competition of the best ideas - that should be what Congress is about.

Party switching has all the emotional edges and baggage of divorce.

Contrary to conventional military and game theory, the most effective offense is sometimes a direct attack against your political opponent's greatest strength - not his weaknesses - to place him immediately on the defensive.

Weary of wily politicians who say one thing and do another, voters and advocacy groups insist presidential contenders commit to the cause du jour in writing, but candidates are foolish to comply. Words matter.

Immigration is the most explosive issue I've seen in my political career.

I think Barack Obama is one of the most exciting politicians to come along in a long time.

For most of my life, I've considered myself a political centrist.

Obama killed Osama. Yes, President Barack Obama gets to crow about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The job of elected leaders is to deliver results that represent the interests of the citizens who placed them in a position of authority with their voice, their vote. But these days, money talks louder.

The office of the president is the most powerful in the world. It is also, at times, the most powerless.

Running for president is hard. But it's good preparation. Because being president is a lot harder.

I don't buy the argument that there can't be a successful independent candidacy for the presidency of the United States. People who say, 'It can't happen,' are many of the same people who said we'd never elect an African American.

Technology has had more of an impact on the presidency and how the presidency communicates than anything.

Great presidents, and even those not so great, never complained about the hands they were dealt. Just the opposite. They assumed they were in the big chair to meet big challenges, no matter how difficult.

Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change.

I think the press are good people; I think they're educated people.

Every president becomes a caricature. The press, partisans, late-night shows, and other arbiters of our culture these days boil down complicated and multi-faceted personalities into one-dimensional punchlines.

The press doesn't just cover presidential campaigns, they influence them by making arbitrary decisions about who is 'top tier' and merits coverage.

Defending birthright citizenship is about being on the right side of liberty. The 14th Amendment is a great legacy of the Republican Party.

I'm no economist. I don't even play one on TV. I'm just a husband, a father, a taxpayer.

Public employees contribute real value for the benefit of all citizens. Public-union bosses collect real money from all taxpayers for the benefit of a few.

When elected officials and others contribute to a climate and culture that fosters hyper-partisanship, we've got to blow the whistle.

There's only one way we're going to change our political climate and ensure we establish some respect in our discourse. And that is to show there is a real price to pay for being a disrespectful partisan idiot.