After a solid win in the primaries Sept. 14, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Michels is preparing to take on 12-year incumbent and Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the elections Nov. 2. The Daily Cardinal interviewed Michels on his stances on key campaign issues and his strategies for trying to beat an incumbent.
The Daily Cardinal: What are your thoughts about Russ Feingold's comments that you have been negatively campaigning against him?
Tim Michels: I think the actual line in the ad was, \Unlike Senator Feingold, I'll fight to have the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada,"" and I really think what we're talking about is the difference of opinion on what the word ""fight"" means ... So I think it's a little bit of a leap to say it's negative campaigning.
DC: What are your strategies for going up against an incumbent?
TM: Well, it's going to be very difficult. A 12-year entrenched incumbent, I think he's raised about $8 million, has almost 100 percent name ID. We're going to work very hard, we're going to grow our grass-roots army and we're going to talk about the same issues I talked about during the primaries.
DC: Do you think more efforts should be made in Feingold's efforts for campaign finance reform?
TM: Something has to be done, and McCain-Feingold is certainly not the answer. Here one of the authors of McCain-Feingold has managed to raise more money in this election cycle than in his previous two election cycles combined ... It has ... made it even easier for an incumbent to raise large dollars and it has made it more difficult for a candidate to take on an incumbent.
DC: Do you have plans to help students pay college tuition?
TM: I think the best way to deal with rising cost of tuition is to have a lot of jobs that are available when somebody graduates to create opportunity ... I think that a strong economy certainly allows for young college students who are entrepreneurs and want to start their own business to be able to go and do that.
DC: What is your stance on the Patriot Act?
TM: I will vote to renew the Patriot Act ... Sen. Feingold was wrong in his sole dissenting vote in the Patriot Act. And it comes ... down to one word and that word is leadership. Leadership is about making difficult decisions in difficult times ... All of Congress came together in the weeks after 9/11 and passed the Patriot Act. One guy voted against it, and I don't know what he saw in there that the other 99 senators did not see, but if it was a concern about civil liberty violations, hindsight is 20-20 and there have been no civil liberty violations.
DC: A recent Badger Poll states Feingold has a 15-point lead in the state. How do you plan to overcome this lead?
TM: There's been some other polls out that have showed a much different margin ... But we're going to keep doing what we've been doing-that's work hard, grow our grass-roots army, and get our message out. And in the end, I believe that we have a message that is more in step with a majority of the people in Wisconsin.
-Interview conducted by Maureen Backman
