Posted on 02/12/2002 11:22:58 AM PST by Stacy
Spotlight shifts to underdog
Bill Salier is logging 1,800 miles a week around Iowa, visiting all 99 counties. He's hitting small town meeting rooms, fairgrounds, republican hog roasts and other gatherings.
Salier is touting a fire-brand conservatism that leaves no doubt where the 33-year-old hog farmer from Nora Springs in Cerro Gordo County stands.
He makes no apologies.
He spells it out -- he supports lower taxes, fewer government regulations and the right of citizens to own guns. He's pro-life and a strong military.
And people are taking notice.
Salier knows he has a daunting task ahead, taking on the liberal Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who, it might be said, is resting on the laurels of a long political career.
And first he has to get past moderate republican Rep. Greg Ganske, seen as the GOP's odds-on favorite, in the June 4 primary.
"Everybody loves an underdog," enthused Salier, who calls Ganske "liberal lite," during a newspaper interview.
A former Marine Squadron leader, the strapping, handsome Salier, who sports a military-style haircut, once guarded former President George Bush at Camp David.
That's as close as he's gotten to politics so far.
Past contenders, career politicians, have gotten nowhere against Harkin, pointed out Salier.
Salier says he wants less government interference.
He believes the federal government has far exceeded its constitutional role -- taking in money, burning three-fourths of it up in bureaucracy, and trickling a little bit back down to the taxpayers.
He likened it to promising five dollars in aid, but taking 20 first before giving back five.
Dependency on the federal government has led to a breakdown in the American family, says Salier.
Liberals, he said, "See Washington as the solver of the problem. They assume everything is the government's first and they parcel back to you what they think you should have."
Salier said rather, he wants money in the people's hands, with the people telling government how much it should have.
Education also stirs up Salier.
"I believe in keeping education money here in Iowa. Why send those important dollars to Washington, D.C. first only to have 25 percent of it come back to the state? When the funding stays in Iowa, it prevents bureaucrats from limiting teachers and administrators from doing the job they know how to do best," he says.
People are listening; they're applauding; the crowds are getting bigger and Salier bumper-sticker sightings more frequent, according to Salier, who, despite the long odds, is optimistic he can win.
Salier said a June straw poll in Polk County placed him 18 percent ahead of Ganske.
In Hardin County last November, Salier said he beat his opponent 86 percent to 14 percent.
Ganske, a plastic surgeon from Des Moines, is in his fourth term in the House, and is the latest Republican to test Harkin's appeal. Harkin ousted an incumbent Republican senator in 1984 to win his seat, and defeated GOP congressmen in 1990 and 1996.
If Salier loses, it won't be for lack of trying. His relentless stumping has allowed only 10 nights at home since Thanksgiving.
There's no doubt he believes his own rhetoric.
"The greatest days of this nation lie ahead, not behind, if we maintain our focus on freedom," said Salier, who professes a strong admiration for the founding fathers of this country.
BTW, does anyone know how one can get in on this gravy train? Can one just start being an unsuccessful farmer to qualify, or does one have to have a certain number of years experience of failure before the government starts paying you more than what your crop is worth? I'd sure like some of this dough.
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