Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush.

I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat.

I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.

I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.

I am not a member of any organized political party — I am a Democrat.

My opponents have not committed themselves to any specific platform – my position has (been) entirely clear.

I do not represent the Al-Islah party, and I am not tied to its positions. My position is determined by my beliefs, and I do not ask anyone's permission."

I won't back down. I am a politician you can count on.

I've always been a Democrat, it runs in my family.

I come here as a Democrat. I reject such qualifiers as New Democrat or Old Democrat or Neo-Democrat. I am committed to the enduring principles of the Democratic Party, and I am proud of its great tradition of service to the people who are the heart and strength of this nation -- working families and the middle class. I would have lost in Massachusetts if I had done what Democrats who were defeated in other parts of the country too often tried to do. I was behind in mid-September. But I believe I won because I ran for health reform, not away from it. I ran for a minimum wage increase, not against it. I continued to talk about issues like jobs, aid to education, and job training. And I attacked Republican proposals to tilt the tax code to the most privileged of our people. I stood against limiting welfare benefits if a mother has another child, and I will stand against any other harsh proposals that aim at the mother but hit and hurt innocent children. I spoke out for gun control, and against reactionary Republican proposals to abandon crime prevention as a weapon in the war on crime. I rejected the Republican double standard that welcomes government as benign when it subsidizes the affluent, but condemns government as the enemy when it helps the poor. I ran as a Democrat in belief as well as name. This turned out to be not only right in principle -- it was also the best politics.

Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat.

I am not at all a slave of social custom. Whatever I think good for myself or the society I shall do and never retreat of fear of criticism of the people or my relatives.

I am now here in Congress... I am at liberty to vote as my conscience and judgment dictates to be right, without the yoke of any party on me, or the driver at my heels, with his whip in hand, commanding me to ge-wo-haw, just at his pleasure. Look at my arms, you will find no party hand-cuff on them!

I hope people will say I never had a hidden agenda, and I never played it cute around the turns, and that my integrity stayed intact.