If the past is an indication, when women are given a job to do in Congress, they get it done.

It is time for us to make a real commitment to our rural communities by expanding broadband, by supporting our farmers, by building affordable housing and taking on rural poverty. That's how we leave no one behind.

I was one of the first women partners at my law firm, the first woman in my Minnesota prosecutor job, and the first woman elected from my state to the Senate. So advice from women who had done similar things was important for me.

We have to do a better job of putting some rules on the insurance companies.

I started freelancing, writing op-eds and book reviews, one at a time. I then got the opportunity to write recurring freelance pieces for 'The Nation' magazine, focusing on how the Internet was changing politics.

All along we find that social life - religion, politics, art - reflects the stages reached in the development of the knowledge of self; it shows the social uses made of this knowledge.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

Useful lessons can be learned from our more successful local authorities - as you move into government, it is even more imperative to communicate speedily and persuasively with your members and your voters.