No politician of any stripe interfered with this process, in terms of how we managed the process. The Gates Foundation is very clear in its mandate that political interference is off the table, and they would walk away. If I were not successful in thwarting political interference in what is supposed to be a fair process, then I would probably be off the table.
In terms of whatever else is going on, whatever the innuendoes, comments, and rumours out there, our process, everything I've looked at, all the people within the agency who have been involved, other departments, in terms of actually managing this process it has been upfront and clear. I sympathize with those who put in proposals and worked very hard. There's no question about it, these are all good people, good institutions, and good partnerships, but they didn't cross the bar. Sometimes I haven't crossed the bar; it is the nature of the business. But no politician from any party, or their staff, came to me or to the process to say you will do this or you will do that.