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Miles: U.S. has to get back on track

Scott Condon
Aspen Times Staff Writer

Mike Miles bristles at the suggestion that he is the “underdog” in his fight with Ken Salazar for the right to be the Democratic candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Colorado this year.

Salazar asserts that he has a better chance to win election in November against the Republican candidate, either Pete Coors or Bob Schaffer, because he has won election twice to the statewide office of attorney general.

When that is noted by a reporter, Miles shoots back that he, too, won a statewide election of sorts. He was supported by 52 percent of the delegates at the Democratic state assembly in May, pulling an upset over Salazar.



Miles said there is nothing that suggests Salazar is better suited to take on the Republican. Miles said his name recognition is just as strong among Democrats likely to vote in next week’s primary. And that, he said, is all that is important at this point.

He is looking one step at a time. First he wants to win his party’s banner, then he will concentrate on spreading his name among voters and building support for the November election. He believes that any candidate that can demonstrate that they are working hardest for the “common good” has a good shot at winning in November.




Miles criticized Salazar for telling voters they should support him or risk losing the Senate race in November. “He says vote for me because something bad will happen if you don’t,” said Miles.

He said he prefers to campaign with a positive message ” vote for him to achieve specific goals, not because something bad could happen if you don’t.

He isn’t shy about aiming high with his goals. “We’re going to get this country back on track,” Miles said.

Although he has never held statewide public office, Miles still proudly touts his public service record. He attended West Point and served in the Army’s Ranger Battalion before joining the U.S. State Department both in Washington, D.C., and overseas. After serving his country he became a teacher and eventually a principal in Colorado.

Miles said his experience in foreign policy and national security issues would be invaluable as a senator. He said he would support “repealing the preventative use of force doctrine.”

“I opposed the invasion of Iraq because we didn’t ask the tough questions,” he said. “What constitutes an imminent threat in the post-9/11 world?

“Let’s have that national discussion.”

Miles supported President Bush’s decision to “go after” the Taliban in Afghanistan because he felt it posed an imminent threat ” it had the ability and intent to pose a threat to U.S. interests at home and abroad and it could do so with immediacy. Those three criteria comprise an imminent threat, he said.

As senator, Miles said he would champion lower-cost health care insurance as well as work for systemic changes in health care. “No question it’s the number one domestic issue,” he said.

He said basic health care should be universal, just like education. He supports a single-payer system modeled after the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. That system reduces administrative costs from 15 percent typical through insurers to the 3 percent to 4 percent range, according to Miles.

Employers would pay only a small fee per employee and the average family would see premiums drop by as much as 50 percent annually, he claimed.

More information on Miles’ positions on top issues can be found at his Web site: mikemiles4senate.com.