Stuart Stevens Quotes

When you're running for president you have to take some risks and you've got to show people something fresh and you've got to stay interesting.

Many senators have developed a canny sense of what will play best for the audience.

I would not want to be a politician... Let me tell you this: If I was campaigning, and I go against my opponent and he started attacking my character, and I leap over the table and choke him unconscious, would that help my campaign?

For somebody who's never run for office before, Donald Trump understands that old axiom, "Define yourself before you're defined."

I mean,[Marco] Rubio, he's having fun. I've got to say I've never seen him enjoy himself out there so much. He's found way to get under his skin. So, he's found way to look like he's somebody that is a force, which has hasn't so far.

We all know that looks matter, and modern politicians have always assumed that their battles are decided on both substance and image.

One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.

The most successful politicians are the ones who embrace their best traits while turning their liabilities into loveable attributes. And yet, many a candidate tries to run as something they aren't simply because the strategy dictates it.

Just a few months ago in the Republican primary Mitt Romney said to his opponents, who he was crushing at the time, stop whining. And I think that's a good message for the Romney campaign. Instead of whining about what the Obama campaign is saying, why don't you just put the facts out there and let people decide rather than trying to hide them.

No, no, no. Dick Cheney forbade me to waste time on his image. I would have liked to have done more.

When I first started talking about running for office, a lot of people said to me, 'Don't let the consultants change you,' and I'd always assured them that I wouldn't allow it to happen. But like it or not, I had to change. Not because of a consultant, but because I started to understand the cost of a stupid mistake.

Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close

It’s not only what you do in politics. It’s what you appear to do.

The man [Richard Nixon] has no style. No style at all.

'Three Billboards,' which is not based on a true story but does have some reality flavoring, must appear worthy of elected office in some way. This was, at first, the illusion presented by the people running the campaigns and, in turn, over the years, has become the custom for lots of us.

On style points alone, Donald Trump makes GWB look magnificently presidential.

Politics is a lot like acting. You have to be on all the time.

To win a successful campaign against an opponent that has a lot more name recognition and a lot more money, I have to be edgy.

A campaign adviser can change the outside appearance of the candidate, but the ideology and personality of the candidate remains the same.

White House staff spends enormous amounts of time planning a president's every move so that his public persona reflects the mood of the public.

I think the president's quite comfortable being the underdog. I think he's happy to run this race from - as if he were behind the whole time.

The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC [End Poverty in California]. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them.

Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you [Bernie Sanders]. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game.

In politics, reality and appearance are of equal importance. You cannot attend to one and neglect the other. A man must determine both what he is, and what others believe him to be.

Nixon's genius was that he was able to portray himself as the toughest of the anti-communists, and yet run on a platform that he had a plan to end the Vietnam War. And, of course, his plan was to prolong it until his second election - but he didn't tell us that then.