As they see it.

• Author: Gordon, Dianna

"I've got no power with drill sergeants. I went from being a member of the legislature, running a law firm, being head of a household to, basically, a maggot. "

--South Carolina House Minority Leader James Smith, captain in the South Carolina Army National Guard, in an Associated Press article after an 11-week boot camp in Fort Jackson.

"There are three main issues this session: the budget, school capital construction and wolves. And all three can bite."

--Wyoming Representative Mike Baker, in the Star-Tribune, summing up his view of the Legislature's upcoming session. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concerns about Wyoming's current wolf law.

"I'm not predicting I'm going to save the world overnight, "

--Virginia Delegate Jeff M. Frederick, who along with fellow freshman Delegate Stephen C. Shannon, is being featured in a series of occasional articles in the Washington Post on the learning curve for a new state legislator.

"We've been in business for 50 years, so everybody pretty much knows where it is."

--El Comedor co-owner Mike Anaya to the Associated Press, on his restaurant serving as a site for New Mexico's first presidential caucus.

"Only in America can a Jewish boy get paid to make fun of Saddam Hussein."

--Jerry Haleva, a California lobbyist, in the San Jose Mercury News, who happens to look like the deposed Iraqi...