As governor when I visited our troops in Kuwait and Iraq I served them Thanksgiving dinner. It was a small gesture compared to their sacrifice.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy - well you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President I never will.

The people of Wisconsin have been good to me. I've tried to live up to their trust. And now I ask those hardworking men and women and millions like them across America to join our cause and get this country working again. When Governor Romney asked me to join the ticket I said 'Let's get this done' - and that is exactly what we're going to do.

But being in the closet uniquely assisted me in politics. From my first run for the state legislature until my election as governor all too often I was not leading but following my best guess at public opinion.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life in politics. When I'm finished with my term as governor I'm going back to the life that's waiting for me in the private sector.

It's really very simple Governor. When people are hungry they die. So spare me your politics and tell me what you need and how you're going to get it to these people.

If you don't like the President it costs you 90 bucks to fly to Washington to picket. If you don't like the Governor it costs you 60 bucks to fly to Albany to picket. If you don't like me 90 cents.

I was scheduled to give my first official press conference that morning anyway 'cause I was chairman of the Governors Energy Council and I was making a press conference with regard to energy policy.

The attorney general would call at 5 o'clock in the evening and say: 'Tomorrow morning we are going to try to integrate the University of Mississippi. Get us a memo on what we're likely to do and what we can do if the governor sends the National Guard there.'

'Not again!' I thought to myself this morning as news trickled out that John McCain was set to pick Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Not again because too often women are promoted for the wrong reasons and then blamed when things don't go right.