DENVER -- Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet has been representing Colorado for almost two years now. He said his background is different from the average politician; and because of that, he can make a difference. He took over the top when Ken Salazar went to work for the Obama Administration.
"I've spent my whole life outside of politics, in business, working for local government, reforming schools," Bennet said. "When the governor asked me to serve, I said that I would, and now that I've been in the job for 22 months, what I've learned is that Washington is full of people who've spent their whole lives running for office. It doesn't have a lot of people that actually have practical business experience or school experience, and I'm running because I think I can make a difference because my experience is so different from what most people back there have"
He said his favorite part of the job is traveling around the state, holding town hall meetings and meeting residents.
"I would be shocked if there's any member of the Senate that has had more town hall meeting that I've had," Bennet said. "In red parts of the state, in blue parts of the state, what I always say to people is I was an urban school superintendent for almost four years, you can't hurt my feelings, it's all been beaten out of me a long time ago, and what I want is their questions, their criticism and their discussion, and my favorite town halls are the ones where there are Democrats and Republicans and Independent voters and Tea Party people and other people have to listen to each other which I think is really, really important."
He said the most important thing he's learned over the past two years is what a struggle this economic downturn has been for Colorado families.
"And it's not just the great recession we're in now, but even the last period of economic growth which for our middle-class families was the first time they saw the economy grow and their income actually fall, so we are now recovering not just from the great recession but from the period of economic growth before that, which in effect was a recession," Bennet said. "Folks are earning less now and the cost of things like health care and higher education are going up. The other thing that I have learned - and I will report this to you - is the things that we share, the values we have in common all across this state, rural and urban, Republican and Democrat, and everyone in between are so much more important than the divisive politics that are getting played out in Washington or on the cable TV news at night."
It's a close race between Bennet and challenger Ken Buck, and the negative ads are getting uglier. Bennet said the biggest misconception about him is the idea that he's not serious about the debt and the deficit.
"You know, this is a fundamentally important issue to me," Bennet said. "One of the most important things Americans do is leave more opportunities for their children and grandchildren. I've got three daughters and I will tell you, they're not paying this debt back. In fact my daughter heard me talking about how this is a moral question, we're constraining they're choices, how we need to make hard decisions, and she walked me out of the room and she said to me, 'daddy, just to be clear' - she's making fun of me because I use that expression- 'just to be clear I'm not paying that back. So I believe my opponent in this race has made a lot of suggestions about the economy, the deficit and the debt that will just make matters worse and what we have to do is work together as Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party people, everybody, and make sure we don't leave these issues unresolved for our kids."
He said the most important issue right now is jobs - regaining the one we've lost in the recession, and growing the jobs we'll need in the future.
"We've had a decade, going back to 1998, where we haven't created jobs in this country," Bennet said. "We've exported a lot of jobs overseas and I think that's just wrong. Colorado is very well-positioned to lead because we've got a great aerospace industry, a great energy sector, and I think that if we commit ourselves to breaking our reliance on foreign oil, stop sending billions of dollars a week over to the Persian Gulf, to regimes that are by the way sending that money to terrorists that are threatening us, if we were investing that money here in Colorado and in this country we could create millions of high-paying jobs that couldn't be exported overseas."
In regard to the backlash against Democrats' spending this session, he said both parties are to blame.
"It's both parties that have done the spending," Bennet said. "The reason we have $13 trillion in debt on the balance sheet is Republicans and Democrats have not restrained themselves. I wrote a bill that said when times begin to get good again, when you start to come out of this recession, that politicians shouldn't be able to do what they always do, which is cut taxes and not pay for it or spend money and not pay for it and what we have to be doing is paying down this deficit, paying down this debt so this is one of my very top priorities if I get the chance to go back."
He said people across the state have a lot to worry about these days, and it's going to take teamwork to get things accomplished in Washington.
"It's jobs, it's their incomes, it's the concern their house value has dropped and a lot of people are underwater," Bennet said. "A lot of people are really worried about how they're going to pay for their kids college education, and so all of that together is worrisome to people. Then the question becomes, is the right thing to do to scream at each other, to make up our own set of facts, or is it to roll up our sleeves to go to work to solve these problems? And I believe we will because generations of Americans faced even tougher challenges than we are, and they have managed to do it, and that's what we need to do again."
There is no easy solution, he said, but Colorado is well positioned to rebound.
"I think what it's going to take is in the short term, making sure our small businesses have access to credit so they can borrow and hire people," Bennet said. "In the medium term what it's going to take is a real commitment to energy independence and creating clean energy and new energy jobs here in Colorado. We are uniquely positioned to lead because we have an abundance of natural gas, we have abundant wind, sun and entrepreneurial horsepower that wants to put their shoulder to the wheel and that's a great thing. We have to build the most innovative economy in the 21st century right here in Colorado, and I think my experience in business will be some help for us doing that."
He said in these tough times, it's important to work together to ensure prosperity for generations to come.
"I know times are hard, I've heard it all over the state," Bennet said. "We've got to come together to solve these problems. Our kids and grandkids are expecting us to do that, and I hope people will get out and vote, it's really a critical election."
Watch FOX21's interview with Republican challenger Ken Buck.
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