I had no intention of getting back into politics. I was teaching at Bowdoin and happily retired from politics.
I think that people have to reward those individuals who are prepared to work across the political aisle. I don't see any other way; if you don't talk to people with whom you disagree, you're never going to solve problems.
I worked in the Senate in the 1970s. I worked for the Labor, Public Welfare Committee, and we had Ted Kennedy and my old boss, Bill Hathaway, and Walter Mondale.
It's hard running as an independent. I wouldn't have won the Senate election if I hadn't been governor. I had credibility. The hard part is getting voters to the point where they think it's thinkable and not a waste of time.
I'm old enough to remember Richard Nixon. They called it the imperial presidency when he was refusing to spend money that Congress had appropriated.
One of my life principles is that if something isn't working, doing something harder isn't necessarily going to produce the same result.
I have a Twitter account; I have a fantastic Facebook page.
My desire is to be as independent as I can be, as long as I can be, subject to being effective.
I've come to realize that an unencumbered U.S. senator is a profound threat to the whole system. It's somebody that they can't put in a box and say, 'Oh, well, we know how this guy is going to vote.'
If it's necessary to join a caucus and get a committee assignment, I'll do it.