Angus King

I worked in the Senate in the 1970s. I worked for the Labor, Public Welfare Committee, and we had Ted Kennedy and my old boss, Bill Hathaway, and Walter Mondale. ”

I'm old enough to remember Richard Nixon. They called it the imperial presidency when he was refusing to spend money that Congress had appropriated. ”

My desire is to be as independent as I can be, as long as I can be, subject to being effective. ”

One of my life principles is that if something isn't working, doing something harder isn't necessarily going to produce the same result. ”

I had no intention of getting back into politics. I was teaching at Bowdoin and happily retired from politics. ”

It's hard running as an independent. I wouldn't have won the Senate election if I hadn't been governor. I had credibility. The hard part is getting voters to the point where they think it's thinkable and not a waste of time. ”

I've come to realize that an unencumbered U.S. senator is a profound threat to the whole system. It's somebody that they can't put in a box and say, 'Oh, well, we know how this guy is going to vote.' ”

I think that people have to reward those individuals who are prepared to work across the political aisle. I don't see any other way; if you don't talk to people with whom you disagree, you're never going to solve problems. ”

How can you work with someone if you went into their state to campaign against them? ”