Santos: 'Settle for less?' This is from the guys that are running Bob Russell for President?

Santos: [about border problems with Mexico] This is not a law enforcement problem. This is an economic problem. If Mexico's economy was as strong as Canada's, there wouldn't be a problem. The President cannot solve this problem. You cannot seal a 2,000-mile border. Mexico has to solve it. Mexico has to grow its own economy. It has to provide enough jobs so that it's not worth it to try to cross into our borders illegally. There is no other real solution to this. And Senator Vinick is smart enough to know that and I think you are, too.

Santos: [about Josh] How'd it go?
Leo: Fine.
Santos: You taking over?
Leo: No.
Santos: Leo, I thought we...
Leo: Josh is going to make a lot of strategic decisions over the next few weeks. He's going to sweat them like life and death. And they'll be important, sure, which is why you and me are going to be in on every one of them. But they're meaningless compared to the decision the voters are going to have to make just by listening to you and trying to see if they can connect with the idea of Matt Santos as President. And Josh has nothing to do with that. Goodwin's right: Josh has taken you as far as he can. The rest is up to you.

Santos: [in a campaign ad] Now, if you don't think I have a personal stake in my economic plan, if you don't think it's personal for me - hey, if the country doesn't like it, I'll be the first one unemployed. We can't hang on to the jobs of the past; none of us can. The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years. A child that is born tonight could live to see the 22nd Century. If we nourish innovation, if we tear down red tape and regulation, that child could lead a brand new industry; can cure a dreaded disease; can touch a far horizon that we can't even glimpse yet. So if it's personal for you, if you want your child to grow up in a world fueled by new prosperity and path-breaking discovery, then I need your vote, 'cause you ain't seen nothing yet!

Santos: [in a live TV ad] Good evening. I'm running for President and if you don't know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised. I've been shut out of tomorrow night's debate for suggesting that it actually be a debate and this is the only ad I can afford. I got in this to improve a broken school system, to fix entitlement because they're going bankrupt, to expand health coverage because it will save money if fewer people show up in emergency rooms. What I found is that Presidential campaigns aren't about these things. They're about clawing your opponents' eyes out as long as you don't get tagged for it. So how about this: I will never say anything about my opponents or anything about anything without saying it myself, right into the camera. You might not get to hear much of me but when you do, you'll know I stand by it. I'm Matt Santos and you better believe I approve this ad.

Santos: America has lost a giant tonight. And I have lost a friend. Leo McGarry devoted his life to public service, to the notion that every citizen is responsible for making this country a better place. That we have a sacred duty to participate in our democracy, to leave America stronger for the next generation. If I win this election, the country will be worse off because Leo McGarry will not be there to help me run it. But, I don't want anyone to vote for, or against me, because of Leo McGarry. This race wasn't about him, and it isn't about me. It's a vision for America that will outlast Leo, and outlast me. There's an America that's bigger than any of us, and, for those of you who have not yet voted, it is the only thing that should matter when you go to the polls tonight.

Santos: Do you want a President who will get out of the way when airline executives are putting their companies into bankruptcy so that they can avoid the pension responsibilities to the workers that have dedicated their lives to those companies?
Vinick: Some of our older airlines are having trouble meeting their huge pension obligations at the very same time when they're facing intense competition from low-cost airlines that are so new they don't yet have pensions to pay. Now, an unthinking liberal will describe the airline bankruptcies as the evil capitalists screwing the workers.
Santos: I didn't say that Senator and I don't think you should put words in my mouth.
Vinick: No. Of course you didn't say it. You're not an unthinking liberal. Are you?
[The audience laughs and applauds.]
Santos: I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as if it were a crime.
Vinick: No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?
Santos: It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
Vinick: A Republican President ended slavery.
Santos: Yes, a liberal Republican; Senator, what happened to them? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.

Santos: I want this to be a campaign of ideas... and these campaigns always wind up being about a candidate's high school transcripts.... You know, if we just took the money the campaign spent on personality contests and partisan side shows, we could solve this country's problems and shut down talk radio, all at the same time.

Santos: I wanted to start this journey in the place where it all started for me. Soon, we will be inundated by the polls, the punditry, and prognostications, all the nonsense that goes with our national political campaigns. Well, none of that matters. This is the place that matters. Because everyday, children walk in to this schoolhouse to glimpse their futures, to ask for hope. They may not know they need it yet, but they do. And I'm here to tell you that hope is real. In a life of trials, in the world of challenges, hope is real. In a country where families go without health care, where some go without food, some don't even have a home to speak of, hope is real. In a time of global chaos and instability where our faiths collide, as often as our weapons, hope is real. Hope is what gives us the courage to take on our greatest challenges, to move forward together. We live in cynical times, I know that. But hope is not up for debate. There is such a thing as false science, there is such a thing as false promises, I am sure I will have my share of false starts. But there is no such thing as false hope. There is only hope.

Santos: Is there a problem?
Helen: It's just that when you said you were going to come home and spend time with the kids, I thought you were going to spend some time with the kids.
Santos: I played with them this morning.
Santos: I don't want to get in their faces. They're sick.
Helen: They have head colds. It's unlikely you'll start bleeding from the eyes.
Santos: I'm in the middle of a Presidential campaign.
Helen: That's where you've been nights.
Santos: I know it's been rough.
Helen: The kids being issued panic buttons and the house transformed into an armed camp?
Santos: A bit of an exaggeration.
Helen: Do the windows in here look any different?
Santos: No, not really.
Helen: It's amazing the natural look they can achieve now with bulletproof glass. Labor Day, the barbecue: I had to provide the Secret Service with everyone's names, Social Security numbers, birth dates. To come by and have a hot dog, everybody had to be issued ID pins. My mother walking around tagged like she was some threatening wacko. If you're considering this an opportunity to crack a mother-in-law joke, you are seriously misjudging the mood of your audience.
Santos: [pause] I had a real good one, too.
Helen: Yeah, what?
Santos: Too late. [pause] I'm sorry. Tomorrow will be better.
[Helen laughs.]
Santos: Hey, think about the neat place we get to live in once we win this thing.

Santos: Next time you decide to smear me maybe you'll have the guts to do it yourself.
Vinick: I had nothing to do with that ad. You blew off the debates. It's clear what kind of campaign you want.
Santos: Oh, I forgot how eager you were for debates. And next time you send left-wing lobbyists to my office don't forget the gift card.
Santos: You want an ugly campaign you're going to get one.
Vinick: I didn't start this.
Santos: Nah, your henchmen did it for you. [pause] You're hitting me on partial-birth tonight, aren't you? [He shakes his head and chuckles]
Vinick: Here we are, a Presidential campaign, grand national debate, pounding each other on one of the few things we basically agree on.
Santos: Then let's negotiate now.
Vinick: Excuse me?
Santos: No backroom tactics. You and me, a real debate.
Vinick: Oh, please.
Santos: A real debate, really.
Vinick: No negative ads. No attacks in our speeches out there.
Santos: If we can have a real debate on the issues, just you and me.
Vinick: How's Sunday night?
[Santos holds out his hand. Vinick shakes it.]
Vinick: It's a hell of a way to end your campaign.
Santos: Oh, I'm just getting started.

Santos: Our whole school system has been slipping for years and our rankings with other countries in math and science achievement... we've got to find a way to turn that around. If we provide the school systems and teachers with everything they need and the flexibility to experiment with fresh new approaches, I think that American students can be number one in the world in math and science in ten years.
Vinick: That's a lie.
...
Vinick: It's a lie that every President, Democrat and Republican, has been telling for 20 years: we're going to be number 1 in ten years. Go ahead, Google it right now. I'm not saying that every President knew it was a lie when he said it or that Congressman Santos knows it's not true, but I do. So let me tell you what our goals should be, our realistic goals. First of all, let's stop pretending that everyone can or should go to college. Every airline needs high-paid mechanics and none of them have to go to college. There are plumbers in some parts of the country that make a better living than dentists. Now, I'm not talking about lowering our ambitions. I'm talking about targeting our ambitions correctly. Now, it's true: some other countries have raised their academic standards over and above what they were once. But we still have the best scientists in the world, the best doctors, and by far the most Nobel prizes. If a kid does well in one of those foreign high schools, guess where he or she wants to go to college. That's right; Harvard, Stanford, Cal-Tech, the University of Texas, and a hundred other American universities that are better than anything they have in their countries. So, if we're going to have a practical approach to education, we're going to have to admit that not every one can go to MIT. But most of the kids who do go to MIT come from American public schools.

Santos: Thank you all so very much. Thanks for sticking around. You know, if you haven't left this room in a while, the sun is coming up! First, I want to say a special word of thanks to Senator Vinick, and I ask you all to join me in applauding his lifetime of service. Arnie Vinick made this a better campaign, and he's made this a better country for all of us. [beat] My father was a barber, my mother a domestic servant, and I never dreamed that I'd have this chance to serve so many people in so many ways. It would be easy for me to stand here and claim a sweeping mandate for the next four years. I can't do that. This was a razor-thin election. My intention is to be the President of everyone - black or brown, yellow or white, Republican or Democrat. I've got a lot of reaching out to do. America has become more polarized - you can't run for President and not see that. Our votes may have been divided, but our country will not be divided. Because, ultimately, it's not about left or right, it's about doing right. Together, we are going to lift up those who have been let down. We are going to ensure that the promise of America is not the privilege of the few, but the birthright of all Americans. I am more grateful than I can say, you have given me an opportunity that comes to few people. Perhaps fewer are worthy of it. God bless you, and God bless America.

Santos: The Governor has already endorsed Hoynes... Nothing I say tomorrow is going to make a difference. We need to focus on electing a Progressive candidate. Then we can take on all the tough causes.
La Palabra Rep: Now all we need is a progessive candidate.

Santos: To be a person of faith is to have the world challenge that faith. Was the universe designed by God? That's up to everyone in this country to decide for themselves because the framers of our Constitution believed that if the people were to be sovereign and belong to different religions at the same time then our official religion would have to be no religion at all. It was a bold experiment then, as it is now. It wasn't meant to make us comfortable. It was meant to make us free.