Jay Nixon

For over 25 years, Lacy Clay has been a powerful voice for working families and a tireless advocate for the people of St. Louis. And throughout his long career in public service, I've considered Lacy a close personal friend.

Finding a 'sacrificial lamb' on whom to tag blame for complicated problems is an important instrument in the toolkit of politicians, because it deflects blame for the nation's economic woes away from their own regulatory lapses, economic mismanagement and coddling to labor unions.

And I think that still is true of this business - which is basically research and development - that you probably spend more time in planning and training and designing for things to go wrong, and how you cope with them, than you do for things to go right.