* “The results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could … prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world.”–Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
* “China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth.”–China’s official Xinhua News Agency on the ramifications of that country’s one-child policy.
* “The people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body is ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerated ignorance, recklessness and corruption.”–James Garfield, 20th president of the United States.
* “Republicans are geniuses at getting people to vote against their own self-interest.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “The most puzzling aspect of our dilemmas is how manageable they are. Unlike Greece and Spain, the U.S. has a fundamentally healthy economy. We have problems, but we have solutions to them.”–Fareed Zakaria, Time magazine.
* “I want our president to be on the right side of history. … I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.”–Michael R. Bloomberg, mayor of New York.
* “If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me.”–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
* “From ultimate wedge issue to relative nonissue–a stunning transformation.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, on same-sex marriage and gay rights.
* “America’s population growth has stalled, and our social welfare burden is escalating as fewer workers support more retirees. The only way to save safety-net programs and escape a crushing debt burden is to have a pipeline of hardworking, talented immigrants.”–Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
* “Early voting is the greatest change that has happened to our elections. … Had we had early voting in 2000, Al Gore would have been president.”–Former Tampa Mayor and Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Pam Iorio.
* “Two-thirds of our voters were not born here, so Florida’s politics have been imported from every other region of the country plus Latin America. … You have every point of view represented.”–Susan MacManus, USF political scientist.
* “It’s not early voting. But it is voting early.”–Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Earl Leonard on voters having access to over-the-counter absentee ballots that they can fill out and hand in on the spot.