Dean Smith Quotes

Some of the reasons John McCain lost in 2008 were his lackluster campaign, his refusal to showcase Obama's extreme liberalism and, thus, his failure to demonstrate why he would make a better president than Obama.

In 2008 all the stars aligned perfectly for Obama's 6-point victory over John McCain. He was an inexperienced, untested neophyte, and successfully convinced enough voters to paint their own version of what hope-and-change was all about on the blank canvas he provided.

If you're going to try to win an election, you can't be 80 percent. You can't say, I'm for what my Democratic opponent is, for but not quite so much of it.

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.

If you are running for the presidency of the United States, you better have a strong opinion.

There are certain elections where policy matters more than others….Personality without a platform will not cut it.

If the campaign is about issues, we will win.

Conservative's the last thing I am.

The Romney candidacy is better than it was four years ago, but it's not clear that it's good. Mitt needs to get good real fast: A real speech, real plan, real responses, and real fire in the belly.

There are people who kind of gravitate towards running politics based on new ideas and issues, and that was what the secret was for Clinton.

The important things that in a campaign we talk about, let us not forget that once the election is over.

The band has a liberal philosophy - that's sort of a given.

The Democratic Party is the party of the status quo.

My firm belief is that people who aspire to public service should have the best advice up front, as they decide whether to run and the people decide whether to support them.

I would put myself towards left of center.

I'm not a conservative of any kind.

We have to say now we think the character of the party has changed so far it will take something very exceptional, something really out of the ordinary line to make us be convinced there's a chance of winning back the party.

Nobody who ever runs for President should be the leader of a party.

What is a platform? An elaborate, exhaustive, minute and accurate statement of a candidate's political beliefs. Does he write it? Oh No; it is published before it is known who he will be.

The candidate who is successful in defining the election is usually the winner.

Every election is a matter of definition.

In every election in American history both parties have their cliches. The party that has the cliches that ring true wins. And if the cliches continue to ring true when the party governs, then that party and those cliches can change history.

Candidates are only as good as their chances of winning.

During a political campaign everyone is concerned with what a candidate will do on this or that question if he is elected except the candidate; he's too busy wondering what he'll do if he isn't elected

You can’t win a Presidential election in this country with just a base.