As they see it.

"Today, I'll be serving up a billion dollars in savings for PG&E customers, identity theft legislation and power plant stating rules, along with bacon and eggs, getting my shopping list together and preparing to can."

--California Senator Debra Bowen in The Sacramento Bee. She was protesting a pastor's statement that it is "sinful" for female legislators to work if they have small children.

"Please don't put the repo man on the street."

--Johnny Wyatt of the Louisiana City Marshals Association in The Times Picayune on a bill that would allow lenders to repossess the vehicles of delinquent borrowers. Wyatt is concerned because of the state's "shoot the burglar law."

"Here we are, six months before November, with an election that looks like something out of Sesame Street: The 2004 presidential race, brought to you by the colors red and blue."

--Christian Science Monitor columnist Dante Chinni on political polarization in America today.

"Wall Street reaffirmed Virginia's financial reputation today, saying the state's decisions to revamp the tax code and freeze a popular program to cut car taxes justify its triple-A, best-in-the-nation credit rating."

--A Washington Post article.

"State lawmakers, not the federal government, are the primary regulators of professional medical conduct."

--Judge Richard C. Tallman, U.S. Court of Appeals in The New York Times reporting on his opinion upholding Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law.

"I probably represent more miles of rural water lines than anyone in the state and maybe more municipalities. So for me, there's a lot of mixed emotions. It's kind of like watching your mother-in-law go over the cliff in your new Cadillac."

--Oklahoma Senator Owen Laughlin on a bill pitting rural water districts against municipalities in The Journal Record's favorite quotes of the session.

"The president ... should let the states do their jobs and work out their marriage laws before resorting to a constitutional amendment."

--A New York Times editorial.

"If the states were patients, you could say they are out of intensive care, but they're not out of the hospital yet."

--Scott Pattison, executive director of the state budget officers' association, in The Washington Post.

"I would rather have six monkeys draw the districts than judges or a nonpartisan commission. You give me the monkeys, and I can live with that."

--Congressman Tom Feeney, former speaker of the Florida House, to Gil Klein for Media General. Feeney opposes a proposal that would turn over Florida's redistricting to a commission of five Republicans, five Democrats and a state Supreme Court judge.