Mike Blouin Quotations

We always had a standing rule on economic development that towns didn't steal from each other. If they were going to do that, they didn't get any help from the state. I think the same thing should apply here.

She has the right experience and the right values to help me move the complex and broken system of health care.

Much of the talk has been about enhancing high school kinds of offerings. That's way too late.

I'd like to find a way to do that.

I believe this is an area where we can be bold, work collectively, and make a dramatic difference in the quality of life of all Iowans.

I don't think you dismiss out of hand an independent, nonpartisan report from an entity that's looked and used the same factors to grade all 50 states as something that's totally erroneous.

Our reputation for a quality workforce is our greatest strength. If we are to maintain this essential aspect of Iowa life, I am convinced that we must act now to protect critical job training services.

People here take primaries seriously. These are the folks who make the party work.

You can have the most state?of?the?art facility, but if you don't have the staff there to deal with it, you're not addressing the real safety issues.

We're talking about people who have been left behind (and) ignored by the Nussle budget.

We need to get back to the basics in elementary school. Without that, the enhanced curriculum in junior and senior high school will reject more students.

We live in a competitive world with states and countries that will beat our brains in if we don't have the ability to compete.

Every student should have the educational opportunities available to them so that they can enthusiastically pursue any career opportunity they might be interested in. And then we need to create those career opportunities in Iowa so that they have the opportunity to live out their educational interests between our rivers.

The statement we're trying to make tonight transfers the difference we have in this primary.

It was a mistake to move into these. It's a mistake to move out of them until we know what the financial consequences are for the state of Iowa. We have some exposure here and folks are kind of ignoring that issue. Do we get out of them? You bet. But we get out of it with knowledge as to what our responsibilities and liabilities are.

It starts here in this building where the past collides with the future in our present struggle for where this state needs to go. It starts here and I'd like to be part of that clash as we define our future in the months and years ahead.

It's going to take five or six years, at a minimum, to fund it properly, and it's going to take another 10 years to see outcomes.

They believe I can win. They believe as governor I can work with them.

I introduced a bill to create the minimum wage in Iowa when I was a freshman legislator. I set it at a buck an hour, and they called me a socialist for trying.

If we want to honestly pursue a system in which we leave no child behind, we have to reform the entire system, because we're leaving a lot of kids behind today.

If we want Iowa to thrive ? not just survive in coming years ? but really thrive, we should establish Iowa as a health care leader and take the bold and responsible steps to protect our children.

If you look at it on a chart, it looks like a bad week on Wall Street. We've got to find a way to reverse that.

Children who are not covered still get sick, they still seek treatment. And the cost is dramatically higher if we ignore the problem.

But when you're talking about replacing, expanding, renovating an existing facility, I think that has to stay in the community it came from.

Chet, there you go again. I can tilt at windmills or try to make a difference. I choose to try to make a difference.