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Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell granted me a 10-minute interview at her campaign headquarters on Thursday. Here are the highlights:

On the Bill Maher tapes: "No I haven't been embarrassed. And I'm not saying that I'm proud. I've matured in my faith. I've matured in my policies. Today you have a 40-something woman running for office. Not a 20-year-old. So that's a big difference."

"A lot of what I said ... I had a new-found faith and I saw this an opportunity to talk about the faith on national TV and more as a ministry opportunity. But voters need to rest assured that when I go to Washington D.C., it's the Constitution by which I will make all of my decisions. And I will defend their right to disagree with me."

Keep the Bush tax cuts and cut the deficit? "It is not impossible. First of all, any time taxes have decreased, revenue has increased. Because what you're doing is you're putting money back into the private citizens who then go and start businesses and create jobs based on the private sector not government spending."{lie, but the usual "line"}

Teach creationism in schools? "It doesn't have anything to do with what I will do in Congress. ... My opinion on that is irrelevant."

President Obama's timetable on Afghanistan: "We need to make our foreign policy decisions based on their effectiveness not based on time."

Did Palin really tell you to speak through Fox News?: "I heard her say something like that on 'O'Reilly.'

Unemployment -- Obama or Bush's fault? "It's a combination of politicians in Washington losing their way. ... So I think what we need to do to get our economy back on track is to replace career politicians with citizen politicians."

Why so reluctant to talk about her past statements? "This campaign is about the future and not the past. This campaign is about what each candidate is going to do to address the needs of the people of Delaware."

Is Sarah Palin qualified to be president?: "Is she running for president? Again, hypothetical."

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