15 Quotes by Kent Cooper

There's a lot of groundwork that these leadership PACs can do that can be instantly translated into presidential support. You're making contacts throughout the country. When you announce a candidacy, those people already know about you.

There's always some hot-button issue where it's a slugfest by industry.

It's fairly common over the years no matter what party one comes from, that senior administration officials often move to lobby firms or lobby for various clients because they know who to contact, at what time, and can instantly get their calls returned. Their speed and skill lobbying is what makes them valuable.

It's probably an indicator of someone who's organized, someone who's dedicated, who's investing the time and energy early on.

That's a huge expense. Most of these pre-presidential-type candidates will do this and use their leadership PACs as much as possible.

The fear is that you'll have some hearings and then they will degenerate into partisan bickering and name-calling, with members of Congress claiming a holier-than-thou approach and possibly the public might start to laugh at them ... And that would probably further turn off voters and increase the cynicism and therefore nothing would change,