Posted: 10/6/06
Longshot U.S. Senate candidate Robert Fitzgerald says he is not just building political capital
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Independence Party U.S. Senate candidate Robert Fitzgerald ó a longshot candidate ó has been asked if heís really just building political capital.
ìPolitical capital doesnít pay the bills,î joked Fitzgerald, a generation younger than U.S. Senate opponents Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar and 6th District Congressman Mark Kennedy.
At age 29, he fully meets the requirements as expressed in the U.S Constitution for running for the Senate, said Fitzgerald to the ECM Editorial Board on Sept. 22.
Originally starting his Senate bid as an independent candidate ó small ìi,î said Fitzgerald ó Fitzgerald found a home in the Independence Party and became its endorsed candidate.
Going over various of issues, Fitzgerald wants U.S. troops to immediately withdrawn from Iraq. ìI am the only major party candidate calling for an immediately withdrawal from Iraq,î said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald argues the prescribed objectives of the war, removal Saddam Hussein and the interdiction of weapons of mass destruction, have been met.
What the public is witnessing now is ìmission creep,î the passage from one new objective to the next, Fitzgerald argues.
The candidate brushes asides two generalizations on the war ó cut and run, staying the course ó as neither being a legitimate plan.
Indeed, Fitzgerald, expressing ìzeroî confidence in the Bush Administration, warned against a ramping up of the rhetoric concerning Iran by administration officials as the possible prelude to another military action.
On health care, Fitzgerald argues for more of a free market approach, saying he believes health care insurance should be used for unaffordable procedures or the unexpected.
In other cases, patients should act more as consumers, he argues.
As for prescription drugs, Fitzgerald argues costs can be lowered by not allowing pharmaceutical companies to repeatedly patent their drugs ó new patents earned by the slightest modification of the original product ó and also argues for generic equivalents to be listed on drug labels.
A recent (Sept. 21) Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs poll put at Fitzgerald at seven percent.
Fitzgerald jokingly said his campaign had spent about $1000 for each percentage point.
Fitzgerald holds an advanced degree and this spring resigned as director of a cable access network in Greater Minnesota in order to campaign.
An adventurous person, Fitzgerald boxed as a youngster and when older completed a 2100-mile solo bicycle tour across the country.
A resident of Rothsay, he and his wife Carolyn, a civil engineer, have taken foster children into their home.
He recently has been campaigning at colleges on a bus tour.
Capitol Roundup
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