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Thursday, August 21, 2008
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Independence Party U.S. Senate candidate facing formidable task CAMPAIGN 2008 Associate Editor Minnesota Independence Party candidate Jack Uldrich faces the formidable task of standing out in a field of 18 U.S. Senate candidates this fall.
The Minneapolis man, who served in Gov. Jesse Ventura's administration, is battling six other candidates for the right to represent the Independence Party in the Sept. 9 primary. He said he thinks voters will tire of Democratic and Republican ads that don't say anything and will be drawn to his Internet-based campaign.
"I absolutely believe it's possible," Uldrich, 44, said in Brainerd Wednesday.
He likened the efforts of Independence Party candidates who aren't celebrities to win a major office to the quest by athletes to run a sub-4-minute mile. For years, the experts said it couldn't be done but once Great Britain's Roger Bannister did it, Uldrich said 16 other people broke the barrier the following year.
"One of us is going to break that barrier," he said. "Once conventional wisdom is shattered people are going to say 'I'm going to run too.' "
Uldrich, a U.S. Navy veteran and former strategic planner with the Defense Department, estimated he is in the tier of the top three Independence candidates, which includes the endorsed candidate, Stephen Williams, and former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley, (I-Minn.)
He wants Congress to tackle the federal deficit and serious entitlement reform as well as reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
He said defense spending and the farm bill were two areas where Congress lacked the political courage to slash the budget.
"Nobody ever has the courage to identify what we should stop doing," he said.
Specific cuts he mentioned included reductions in the current fleet of 10 aircraft carriers, which cost $5 billion apiece to replace; and in the number of F-35 fighter jets, which cost $400 million apiece. The jets he maintained can be replaced by unmanned aerial drones, which can be used for both bombing and surveillance at a cost of only $2 million to $3 million.
Aircraft carriers, he said, were extremely vulnerable, recalling how the USS John F. Kennedy, the carrier he served on, needed an escort of seven destroyers, a carrier attack troop carrier and three submarines. The carrier, he said, was even vulnerable to old World II vintage diesel submarines.
The U.S. military's expensive equipment also requires expensive training for pilots and repair personnel as well as health care, retirement and benefits for those people, Uldrich said.
With 700 military bases the U.S. military has over-extended itself and discouraged allies from doing more, according to Uldrich.
"Russia feels free to act because the U.S. is over-extended," he said.
He said he was not in favor of the Iraq war at the outset but is pleased with the success of the surge. UIdrich said the U.S. has an obligation to rebuild Iraq. He said the Republicans rushed in too fast and the Democrats want to rush out too fast.
"I don't believe we can draw down as quickly as the Democrats say," he said.
The former Independence Party chair disagreed with a proposal by Sen. Coleman to have a commission devise Social Security reform and let Congress overrule it only with a "super majority."
"That's a cop-out," he said. "We need to either increase taxes, cut benefits or raise the age (for recipients)."
Medicare will be insolvent in 10 years, he said and Social Security is also in trouble.
"We don't have time for another blue-ribbon commission," Uldrich said.
Uldrich suggests indexing the age of recipients to the increase in life expectancy each year.
His priority choices for fixing Social Security (in order) would be to raise the retirement age, use means testing, reduce benefits and increase taxes.
"I've outlined my priorities," he said. "That's more than you'll get from the other candidates."
The farm bill was another area in which subsidies to wealthy farm owners and agri-business could have been cut, he said.
"We can't continue to say we want to balance the budget and then have the opportunity to do something about it and look the other way," Uldrich said.
Uldrich said he couldn't have met the litmus tests of either of the other two major parties. He said he tends to believe in restricting government powers in the areas of abortion choice and gay marriage but he's a proponent of school choice and vouchers and is against universal health care.
The candidate prefers cellulosic ethanol to corn ethanol. He said the U.S. can produce 10 percent of its electricity through geo-thermal means for a minimal government investment of $2 billion. He also would like to see more use of nuclear power.
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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