Q: (Courtesy ABC News) My only problem with you and why I havent thrown all my support behind you is that I dont know if you have the desire to be President. If I caucus for you next week, are you still going to be there two months from now?

That is a very good question, not because its difficult to answer, but Im gonna answer it in a little different way than what you might expect.

In the first place, I got into the race about the time people normally get into get into it. The fact of the matter is people get into it a lot earlier than they used to. For some of them, they were juniors in high school.

The first place, I wouldnt be here if I didnt. I wouldnt be doing this. I grew up in very modest circumstances. I left government and I and my family have made sacrifices to be sitting here today. I havent had any income for a long time because I figured to be clean, youve got to cut everything off. I was doing speaking engagements and I had a contract to do a tv show. I had a contract with abc radioand so forth. A man would have to be a total fool to do all those things and to be leaving his family which is not a joyful thing if he didnt want to do it.

I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I dont do it. I want the people to have the best president they can have.

When this talk first originated from people around the country both directly and through polls, liked the idea of me stepping up and of course, you always look better form a distance.

But most of those people are still there. I approached it from the standpoint of a deal. A kind of a marriage. If one side of a marriage really has to be talked into the marriage, it probably aint going to be a good deal. But if you mutually decide its going to be a good thing. In this case, if you think this is a good thing for the country, then we have an opportunity to do some wonderful things together.

Im offering myself up. Im saying that I have the background, the capability and concern to do this and do it for the right reasons. Im not particularly interested in running for president, but I think Id make a good president.

Nowadays, the process has become much more important than it used to be.

I dont know that they ever asked George Washington a question like this. I dont know that they ever asked Dwight D. Eisenhower a question like this. But nowadays, its all about fire in the belly. Im not sure in the world we live in today its a good thing if a president has too much fire in the belly. I approach life differently than a lot of people. People, I guess, wonder how Ive been as successful as Ive been in everything that Ive done. I won two races in TN by 20 point margins in a state that bill Clinton carried twice. Ive never had an acting lesson. I guess thats obvious by people whove watched me

When I did it, I did it. Wasnt just a lark. Anything thats worth doing is worth doing well. But Ive always been a little more laid back than most. Im only consumed by very, very few things. Politics is not one of them. The welfare of our country and our kids and grandkids is one of them.

If people really want in their president super type-a personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night and been thinking about for years how they win the presidency of the united states, someone who can look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning, I aint that guy. So I hope Ive discussed that and didnt talk you out of anything. I honestly want I cant imagine a worse set of circumstances [than] achieving the Presidency of the United States under false pretenses. I go out of my way to be myself.