Ed Rendell Quotes

Arkansas is a state where politics is retail.

Research has shown that the perceived style of leadership is by far the most important thing to most voters in evaluating officeholders and candidates.

I ran for the Senate six times. And one of the things I know about Senate races off years and on races, and on years, the same as governor's races, is it's all local. It all gets down to what the specific issues in that - in that district or that state is.

When you start to think about politicians, you've got to realize these are strange creatures. Other than the fact that they can't tell directions, and they have very strange breeding habits, how do you actually work with these things?

Politics is gut; commercials are gut.

What matters most in politics is personality. It's not issues; it's not image. It's who you are and what you represent.

In an election year the state of the nation is the state of politics.

We don't win or lose elections because of [party] rules.

No party is as bad as its state and national leaders.

Politics: a Trojan horse race

I am not interested in state politics.

In presidential elections, I think people focus way too much on ideology.

There's no question that many factors contribute to voters' perceptions about debates and who wins and who loses.

In an age when stagecraft, gauzy themes, and sound-bites have too often been substituted for leadership, Bill Clinton as a candidate made it essential to campaigning to take the specifics of governance seriously. Practical solutions were 'in;' ideology was 'out.'

If you can't be a populist in Arkansas, you ain't going to be a populist in Washington.

Locally, I'll vote one way and nationally, maybe another.

I'm into politics - I'm interested in the election and how pissed off people get.

I hate politics and what are considered their appropriate measures. I hate notoriety, public meetings, public speeches, caucuses and everything that I know of which is apparently the necessary incident of politics - except doing public work to the best of my ability.

The campaigns of Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, and John McCain all outperformed expectations on their support from independent voters. They made no effort to shy away from ideology, but conveyed to voters that their policies were driven by principle, not party talking points.

The young man who is moved in any way to contemplate an entry into public life … learns first of all to understand that there are two great political organizations, with one of which he must associate himself, learning and echoing its catch-words, accepting its leadership, and steeping himself in the belief that in it are wisdom and truth while the other party is void of both

I have serious doubts about the value of debates in a presidential election. They tend to be a test of reaction time rather than a genuine exposition of the participants' philosophies and programs

People don't vote parties. They vote individuals.

Candidates talk about issues that voters want to hear about.

A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him, he is a statesman.

Politics is the entertainment industry for ugly people!