This is the essence of the American Dream - in the land of opportunity, if you have a good idea, create a solid plan, and work hard, you should be able to reinvent yourself and get ahead.

I'm not sure there's another way to help move more people out of poverty than to raise the minimum wage.

When I opened my first brew-pub, I did not include a checkbox on hiring applications that required applicants to disclose criminal convictions. And we were better for it.

Taxpayers don't want their money spent more than a very, very slender amount on actual buying art or paying for concerts.

Colorado is known for many great things.

Too often, low-income Americans must choose between paying for medicine and having their heat shut off.

We don't want the federal government coming in and telling us how to do our environmental remediation or how we're going to do our healthcare.

Oftentimes, when constituencies or sectors of opinion are distinct, when they are confronted with a situation where they're going to have to make a serious compromise, they react very negatively publicly, but they also recognize when they step back that this is right.

I assume we will have figured out a way to efficiently utilize solar energy and tied that to an efficient way to use nuclear energy in such a way that it doesn't pose a serious environmental issue.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in large part because of recognition that our nation's health care system is not working. The act is not perfect, but it is a starting point, and we have been using it to improve the health of Coloradans.

For me, the risks in terms of opening that brewpub were fairly high. I put my house up as collateral, I invested the liquid money I had and two years of my time to get it over, but that's really not much of a risk for what the potential reward was if it worked.

It's crucial that we keep care for our seniors a priority.

I think, in this country, if you work 40 hours a week, and you work hard, you ought to be able to afford an apartment somewhere.

I never ran for student council or class president or any of that stuff. I didn't hang out with those people. It was just a different universe from the one I inhabited.

I believe that the more this hemisphere operates with a sense of common purpose, I think the better we'll all do.

Democrats must say loudly and clearly that we are not socialists.

To a certain extent, people's behavior in a campaign is generally a reflection of how they would act in office.

The social and educational value of preschool is undisputed.

We need an economy that fosters and encourages competition and innovation.

In the restaurant business, you learn quickly there's no margin in having enemies.

I grew up a skinny kid with a funny last name and coke bottle glasses, so I experienced my fair share of bullies. But I learned, with the help of humor and resilience, to never give up.

Politics generally doesn't mix with sports very well.

I would argue that one of the issues which the public should be much more emphatic about with all politicians... is patronage, appointing people to high positions because they supported your campaign or helped you raise money.

Being the one person out there committed to not running negative ads - voters respond to that.