Iowa was the preliminaries, New Hampshire begins the playoffs and I look forward to a spirited contest, ... The voters of Iowa have proven that the race for the Republican nomination will be a contest of ideas, not a coronation.

I think it's important for Iowa and New Hampshire to maintain their status because having lived through this, I know how important the grass-roots campaigning is in both places to strengthening candidates and making them better for the general election.

Look, we haven't won Iowa or New Hampshire, a vote hasn't been cast,

Voters who are for McCain now in New Hampshire are not going to turn away from McCain because he did poorly in Iowa because there's no expectation for McCain in Iowa.

We have a process for picking the nominee, it's called Iowa, New Hampshire and the subsequent states. And there comes a point when what they are doing actually does get in the way of the accepted process.

It was awkward, while a contest was still under way, ... But those constraints are off and we're moving forward.