a great American tradition of burying the hatchet after an election -- and not burying it in each other, but rather burying it for the sake of the future of this country.

There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.

To suggest that these African-American leaders would somehow shortchange their own citizens is absolutely without merit,

But in an American election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as Americans. And that -- that is the greatest privilege and the most remarkable good fortune that can come to us on earth.

I think anything that is perceived as parliamentary maneuvering to get out of this is not going to be accepted by the American public, ... It's going to have to be out front. It's going to have to be fair.

We're going to have a campaign and an election, not a coronation.