You have to keep your sanity as well as know how to distance yourself from it while still holding onto the reins tightly. That is a very difficult thing to do, but I'm learning.

I considered Nat King Cole to be a friend and, in many ways, a mentor. He always had words of profound advice.

Before Barack Obama took office, it looked like that pride could have vanished forever, but today, from the staggering depths of the Great Recession, the nation has had 29 straight months of job growth. Workers across my state and across the country are getting back the dignity of a good job and a good salary.

At the beginning of my career before anything started propelling, I used to blow up everybody. I was trying to work with whoever got next.

I moved from Denmark to America. I left my family. I left my school. I left my friends. And it was basically to pursue my career, and I didn't know if it was going to work out. So that was very scary to leave everything and just put everything into a whole new thing where you don't know if you're going to make it or not. But I think I'm doing good.

I'll bring colleges and industry together to develop new products in marine science, green technology, and medical devices, and to train our workers to fill those jobs... We need to get Rhode Islanders back to work.