Sosa, Sklansky, Noriega, and Richardson

Republican media consultant Lionel Sosa, quoted in the Houston Chronicle: "Anytime anybody says, 'We've got to get those people out of here, and we've got to build a wall to keep those Mexicans out,' it's going to come off as unfriendly, period. If (Republicans) don't pedal back on the rhetoric, they are going to be in big trouble."

David Sklansky, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of California at Berkeley, on former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's corruption conviction, quoted in The New York Times: "It's unusual to see a bribery prosecution where the payment wasn't to the defendant. It seems to me the conduct in this case was similar to a lot of what we take as normal for politics."

U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega, quoted in the San Antonio Express-News: "We've seen talk radio become an organizing tool for the die-hard right, while liberals are credited with turning the blogosphere into a political weapon. Each of those media has a targeted demographic group and works them into an ideological lather. This, I believe, is damaging to the political culture in this country."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who's hoping to win support of his fellow Latinos in his bid for president, on the obstacles: "The name Richardson doesn't help."