For some time, I've said this issue of comprehensive immigration reform is not just an issue about immigration or human rights or civil rights, it's about our economy. You take 11 million people from out of the dark and into the light. The think tanks have surmised that you are talking about trillions of dollars infused into the economy.

The Democrats and Republicans need to come together. I've criticized Democrats for their unwillingness to address entitlement reform and Social Security and Medicare. Republicans, on the other hand, never saw a tax that they liked, even when it meant closing tax loopholes. They don't want to in any way support any revenue enhancements.

The fact is, when you hear the Republican candidates on immigration, when you see them and hear them talk about contraception, mammograms, abortion, and not the economy, it's clear to me they're moving farther and farther away from the mainstream.

I want to be known as the mayor who happens to be Latino who made a difference. I ran to make a difference.

I've always said that L.A. is the city of America's future. It is to the world what London was in the 19th century and New York in the 20th because of the growth of the Pacific Rim countries. We're the portal to the emerging world.

My kids and I are spending time together. And we're enjoying that. Family is important; I was gone a lot in the 20 years of public service.

When I ran the first time in 2001, they called me 'The Latino Mayor.' By the time I left in 2013, with a 58 percent approval rating, half the people liked me, half the people didn't. I was everybody's mayor. There was never any criticism that I was just for one group.

Some critics say I spent too much time on politics. I don't put much stock in the critics.

I want to figure out how we put California and America back on track - how we bridge this partisan divide that is so polarizing.

Everybody knows that L.A. is known for its addiction to the single-passenger automobile, the gridlock, the congestion on the freeways.