«I don't know. That's so far down the road, I couldn't say. This is a decision that I don't have to make for a year and a half. So I'm doing some of the practical things you need to do to keep that option open. But my first priority is serving the people of our state. That's what I care about, and that's why I'm here in Terre Haute today. So if that's a decision I do make - where - I guess we'll have to decide that if that time arrives.»

«Well, I hope not. Hopefully, we'll be able to make enough progress before then that we can begin bringing our troops home. But it's impossible to set a deadline right now. Hopefully, we'll make progress, but how quickly we will make it, no one can really say right now. I would imagine that we will have some presence in Iraq, but hopefully it will be substantially reduced, and be if not exclusively, largely in a supportive role, rather than taking the front-line role that we currently have. We need to get more Iraqis trained and equipped to provide for their own security, so that we will no longer have to. And we can do only those things that they're not capable of, for example air cover and those kinds of things. They'll be patrolling the neighborhoods, they'll be the ones out on the front lines. Hopefully, with the next [general] elections more than three years away, God willing, we'll have gotten there by then.»

«If you look back over the last 20 years, the Fortune 500 companies in this country have created zero net new jobs. But at the same time, smaller businesses have created tens of millions of jobs. So if we care about growing our economy, as I believe we must, we really need to look at the challenges facing small business.»

«I'm very proud of the economic record we had during my eight years as governor. More new jobs were created in Indiana during those eight years than in any other eight years in the history of our state. I think that speaks for itself. When I left office, we had the largest budget surplus in state history. I think that speaks for itself. So I think we had a strong economic and fiscal record. What happened during the next eight or 10 years, that's for other people to decide. I'm proud of my record as governor, both economically and fiscally. Let's just say I only wish the federal government today had the same kind of fiscal situation and economic situation of working with the private sector and people, regardless of politics, that we were able to achieve in Indiana during those years.»

«That's something that weighs on my mind. Susan is totally supportive. I couldn't ask for a more supportive spouse. She's probably not as objective about her husband as she could be, but I'm glad that she's not. But she's said that whatever I decide to do, she wants to be supportive. The boys are only 9 and a half [years old]. They don't know what all is involved. I did sit down and talk with them a bit. I said, 'Boys, your dad's thinking about this; what do you think?' And they came back and said some of their friends thought that would be kind of neat, and that kind of thing. And I said, 'Well, that means your dad might not be able to be at some of your ball games quite so much, and I may be gone a lot, and I may not be able to be with you at night.' And then it didn't sound quite so good. I didn't want to turn them off to the idea. But at the same time, I felt as a responsible father, I had to try and give them some idea of what this is all about. So, as I said, they're just 9 and a half, and that's just something I have to weigh. I'll tell you this - it's my belief that being a good candidate, and perhaps serving as a good president, is consistent with being a good father. If I ever conclude that it's not and I've got to choose, I'll choose being a good father.»

«I think I should hear what the man has to say before making up my mind, ... Whoever is chosen for this spot could be on our nation's highest court for 30 years perhaps, and deal with some of the most fundamental liberties that we have in this country. So I think it's important we take our time, ask the right questions, listen carefully to the answers and then reach a considered judgment.»

«Our government failed at one of the most basic functions it has -- providing for the physical safety of our citizens, and in so doing raised basic questions about who we are as a people, what makes us special, and whether our leaders understand,»

«will take leadership -- leadership unlike that which has controlled Washington for these last several years.»

«Our interest in serving our community has to be more than episodic, sparked by disaster, natural or man-made, ... The essence of our proposal was to try to institutionalize service to make it part of (young people's) experience.»

«To strike the right balance between protecting Hoosiers' health and maintaining a strong economy, ... we need to take the time to get the rule right.»