JOHN EDWARDS

I was slapped down to the ground when my son Wade died in 1996, in April of 1996.

There's no question that I've done wrong. I take full responsibility for having done wrong. I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law.

America's families will be safer in a world where we're strong, where we're engaged, but where we're respected.

I want to be a champion for the people I have fought for all my life - regular people.

I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves.

If you want to beat me up, feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself.

I'd say if you live in the United States of America and you vote for George Bush, you've lost your mind.

I'm in love with one woman. I've been in love with one woman for 31 years. She is the finest human being I have ever known.

I was wrong to vote for this war. Unfortunately, I'll have to live with that forever. And the lesson I learned from it is to put more faith in my own judgment.

There's a lot of America that's Christian. I would not describe us, though, on the whole, as a Christian nation.

I actually defeated an incumbent Republican senator who was part of the Jesse Helm's political machine in North Carolina, the result of which is I'm now the senior senator from North Carolina instead of Jesse Helms, which is a very good thing for this country.

I went from being a senator, a young senator, to being considered for vice president, running for president, being a vice presidential candidate, and becoming a national public figure. All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want.

I have grown up in the bright light of America.

Faith is not a political strategy and should not be a political strategy. If it is being used as a tool to garner votes, to convince people they should support one political party or the other, I think that is a huge mistake.

We ought to follow through on an idea that was first proposed by President Clinton to allow people over the age of 55 who are not eligible for Medicare into the Medicare system, at cost, and below cost for those who can't afford it. That takes care of a significant number of the people who don't have health insurance.

The fact that women are paid 73 cents on the dollar for work equivalent to work being done by men is unacceptable in America.

I'm not sure I had a political career for the future anyway. I'm not sure that politics was what I wanted to spend my life doing.

There is so much work to be done to treat gays and lesbians and gay and lesbian couples with the respect that they're entitled to. They deserve, in my judgment, partnership benefits. They deserve to be treated fairly when it comes to adoption and immigration.

The president of the United States actually has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

This is America, where everything is still possible.

I believe that presidential candidates actually have a responsibility to point out substantive differences: to point out perspectives that are different.

My faith informs everything I think and do. It's part of my value system. And to suggest that I can somehow separate and divorce that from the rest of me is not possible.

South Carolina, as a matter of compromise, displays the Confederate flag on a flagpole in front of the state capitol. Because I grew up in the South and believe that the Confederate flag is a very divisive symbol, I have stated publicly a number of times that I believe that South Carolina should remove the flag from the state capitol grounds.

I think an Edwards-Kerry ticket would be powerful.

I don't think God's through with me.