import re
a = ['Ask', 'not', 'what', 'your', 'country', 'can', 'do', 'for', 'you;',
    'ask', 'what', 'you', 'can', 'do', 'for', 'your', 'country!', 'This',
    'is', 'a', 'quote', 'from', 'JFK', 'who', 'is', 'a', 'former',
    'American', 'President.']
result = re.findall("[\\w']+|[.,!?;]", ' '.join(a))
How do I remove punctuation from an item in a list and save it as a separate item in the list?