I knew that there were several, among African-American leaders, who had been put out by me because of my failure or reluctance to endorse Sen. Kerry.

To be called a coward, I don't think that's fair.

We didn't do anything wrong... Some are frustrated that we did it this way.

I didn't want to engage in a campaign where I was defending myself on those issues at every turn, so I just decided that I'd switch and run as a Republican.

When someone from my own party entered... it became clear that I was going to spend the next six months defending my own record to my own party.

I didn't have the base I needed to win the election.