Verbatim

'So you'll walk me down the aisle?' ELLEN DEGENERES, talk-show host, to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, after he told her that while he opposes gay marriage, he wishes her every happiness. DeGeneres and partner Portia de Rossi plan to wed after California's gay-marriage ban lapses on June 14

'I had hoped that even at the 11th hour and 59th minute, we could come up with an alternative.' OSBY DAVIS, mayor of Vallejo, Calif., announcing that the city had filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection following a $16 million budget shortfall. The San Francisco suburb, with nearly 120,000 residents, is the largest city in the state to declare bankruptcy

'I do not view the role of the Libertarian Party to be a spoiler.' BOB BARR, former Republican Congressman and the Libertarians' 2008 presidential nominee, denying that he will draw votes away from Republican John McCain

'Desperate times beget desperate measures, and this is in the Hail Mary category.' RICK SEANEY, CEO of Farecompare.com an airline-ticket research site, on American Airlines' decision to charge $15 per checked bag to fight soaring fuel costs

'They go ahead and scare kids with communists. These people have no shame.' VIKTOR PEROV, member of Russia's Communist Party, denouncing the new Indiana Jones film, which features a villainous kgb agent, as anti-Soviet propaganda

'Should we persevere and go forward or simply hide in our offices and duck our heads? No way is the Mexican government going to back down in such a fight.' FELIPE CALDERON, President of Mexico, on his campaign against drug traffickers, which has claimed 1,378 lives so far this year

'I have no hope that help will come.' AYE SHWE, a 52-year-old survivor of the cyclone that devastated Burma three weeks ago. The U.N. estimates that fewer than half of the disaster's 2.4 million victims have received emergency assistance

Back & Forth: Clinton's Kennedy Misstep

MAY 23

HILLARY CLINTON Democratic presidential hopeful, citing the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, on why she felt the race for the Democratic nomination was far from over "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

MAY 23

KEITH OLBERMANN MSNBC anchor, calling Clinton's remark insensitive "You actually invoked the nightmare of political assassination."

MAY 23

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. Clinton supporter, defending her comment

"I think it is a mistake for people to take offense."

MAY 24

BARACK OBAMA Clinton's Democratic rival and the presidential front runner

"We should put it behind us."

MAY 25

HILLARY CLINTON Dismissing claims that she was suggesting a tragedy might strike Obama "I was making the simple point that given our history, the length of this year's primary contest is nothing unusual."

MAY 25

TERRY MCAULIFFE Clinton's campaign chairman, on the media's reaction "A hyped-up press over Memorial Day weekend."

Sources: The Ellen DeGeneres Show; Los Angeles Times; AP; TIME.com Reuters; International Herald Tribune; AP

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