* “Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing.”–Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to migrants seeking to flee to Europe.
* “The election was a referendum on (moderate President Hassan) Rouhani, and the vote came back ‘yes.'”–Cliff Kupchan, Eurasia Group analyst, on recent parliamentary elections in Iran.
* “I think you can make the case that the Ronald Reagan we all came to know as president would not have existed without Nancy Reagan.”–Ron Reagan Jr.
* “A crisis like this, the company was not prepared for. We don’t know the right way out.”–Hans-Gerd Bode, Volkswagen’s communication chief, on VW’s emissions cheating scandal.
* “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”–Mitt Romney.
* “Remember when Christie was supposed to be tough and strong and bold? Now he’s just Donald Trump’s sidekick–his Robin, or maybe more appropriately, his Chewbacca.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.
* “His (Trump’s) entire campaign has been one long dog whistle to bigots of various varieties.”–Veteran Florida GOP strategist J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich.
* “For all the Republican establishment’s self-righteous bleating, Trump is nothing more than an unvarnished, cruder version.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “It’s a disaster. I couldn’t watch the debate last night.”–Republican strategist April Schiff.
* “We will win the state of Florida. We will beat Donald Trump there the way we beat Charlie Crist.”–Marco Rubio.
* “I’m the mayor of Florida’s third largest city. I have never met Marco Rubio. I’ve been to Washington a number of times, but he has never taken the time to come and see me.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
* “He’s (Rubio) got to lay off the cuteness in the debates and certainly stress the economy and security.”–USF political scientist Susan MacManus.
* “The wonkosphere vs. Bernie clash is not just a story of center-left versus left-left. It is also a clash between those who have been in the trenches of trying to make public policy for the last seven years versus those who can exist in a kind of theoretical world of imagining what public policy ought to be.”–Neil Irwin, New York Times.
* “We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health, and when you watch these Republican debates you know why.”–Bernie Sanders.
* “Resign or be recalled.”–Hillary Clinton’s advice to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
* “She’s very careful and reflective. But when the choice is between action and inaction, and you’ve got risks in either direction, which you often do, she’d rather be caught trying.”–Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning at the State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton.
* ” (There are a) lot of people who love me, they just won’t vote for me.”–Ben Carson.
* “The goal is this: Let’s get to the convention in Cleveland and figure it out there.”–Former New Hampshire Republican Gov. John H. Sununu.
* “If Ohio or Florida falls to Trump, anti-Trump Republicans are likely to face a choice between voting for Clinton or supporting a third-party candidate. My inclination? #DraftCondi.”–Michael Gerson, Washington Post.
* “You should be vigilant to the possibility of gun crime in all parts of the U.S.”–Tim Fischer, former deputy prime minister of Australia, giving advice on his Smartraveller web site.
* “Most of the cyber experts that you talk to would say it’s a matter of time, that at some point there will be a vulnerability that someone can exploit. That’s the world that we live in.”–Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, on the volume of cyberattacks on Duke Energy–much of it coming from computer hackers backed by foreign governments.
* “I’d love to get the money out of politics. I’m certainly not going to single-handedly disarm though.”–Florida Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy.
* “Without incentives on the table, most high-impact projects won’t take a second look at all that Florida has to offer.”–Rick Homans, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership.
* “Projections show that China will become the top overseas market for America in the next three to five years, and we’ve been slowly getting our feet wet to prepare for that. With more than 1.3 billion people in China, that’s a massive market with huge potential for us.”–Visit St. Pete-Clearwater executive director David Downing, who will join other Florida tourism officials on a 10-day trip to China this spring.
* “Historically, on the I-4 Corridor, you want to be in Tampa. It’s the biggest media market. There’s a lot of young people to help. … Ybor’s got its own vibe, and it’s exciting for us.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, at the opening of Hillary Clinton’s campaign office in Ybor City.
* “This is a pioneering project. It will be interesting to see what the demand looks like.”–Jeffrey Brown, associate professor of urban and regional planning at Florida State University, on changes to the Veterans Expressway. For the first time, a toll road is getting an even more expensive express lane next year.
* “In my opinion, we’re backdooring legalization of something.”–City Councilman Charlie Miranda, on council’s preliminary approval of an ordinance that could allow those caught with small amounts of marijuana to avoid jail and pay a fine instead.
* “She’s not complacent, she’s not coasting, she’s not in the twilight of her path here, and we see only great things ahead of us.”–USF trustee Byron Shinn, on the approval of a raise and performance-based incentives for Judy Genshaft, the longest-serving president in USF history.
* “It’s a memory that you don’t want to remember.”–Rays prospect Dayron Varona, a Cuban native, reflecting on his Cuba-to-Haiti-to-America escape with his mother.
* “We do have to strike a balance between keeping downtown vibrant and allowing it to be residential.”–St. Petersburg City Councilman Jim Kennedy, after the council had amended a city code to prevent club owners from directing the sound from loudspeakers into the streets or at neighboring businesses and buildings.
* “I know what we are not. But I do believe strongly that in the bottom third of the markets in baseball we have the opportunity and possibility to be at least squarely at the front end of that as opposed to the bottom end of it. And that’s good enough. Is it great? No. But it’s good enough.”–Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg.