Democrat Joe Donnely is the Congressman who represents Indiana's second district, but he'd like to represent the whole state in the U.S. Senate. He sat down with WDRB in the Morning's Candyce Clifft to discuss his views as he kicks off his statewide tour of "Listening to Hoosier Families."

CANDYCE:

What is your hope as you come into this area and start campaigning for U.S. Senate? What do you want to get from people around here?

REP. DONNELY:

"Well we're meeting today with working families in Indiana to find out even more about how they feel about jobs, opportunities, and what can make a difference in their lives. So it's very much the same. I live a mile from the Michigan line. And here we are in the same type of situation -- so far from Indianapolis, but with so many things that bind us together.

"And those are: jobs, education and the opportunity to retire with dignity, have a great life, send your kids to school, a great education. So all of that is very important and that's what we want to talk about."

CANDYCE:

What was your role recently -- speaking of jobs, and having more money and having a better life -- what was your role recently in the payroll tax cut and the debate in Washington over it?

REP. DONNELY:

"Well I was one of the champions of that, because I thought it was very important. Every family, because that bill was passed, will have about an extra thousand dollars in their pocket. And what that will do is it gives people a chance to help with a mortgage payment or a car payment. And it also puts more money into the economy, which will create more jobs. So it's a real plus and a real plus for our families."

CANDYCE:

How do your views line up with President Obama's views and his agenda for the next several years? Has he laid out a budget plan for even the next year?

REP. DONNELY:

"Well my views basically line up with Hoosiers'. And what I mean by that is there's some things I agree with the President on, and some things I don't. What we're both working on nonstop is to make sure that there's a job for every Hoosier that's out there. So what we want to do is create more opportunity, more chances for people to go to work, to get a good education, have the skills that employers are looking for, and that's what I'm focused on."

CANDYCE:

And how do you do that in a tough economy? How do you improve life when you have so many people -- granted, the unemployment rate is coming down, but it is still high.

REP. DONNELY:

"Yeah, we've got a lot of work to do, but the district I come from, we build all the transmissions for Chryslers in the country. So one of our counties was at 21 percent unemployment. By standing together and getting the auto companies through this, that county is now at eight percent unemployment...we had over 4,000 people working at those transmission plants and it was down to 100 at one point. It's over 5,000 now.

So what it comes down to is I'll bet on the American worker every time.

CANDYCE:

And you're running for Senator Richard Lugar's seat?

REP. DONNELY:

"Yes."

CANDYCE:

He's a well-known face in Indiana. Do you expect him to be your opponent, or possibly someone else?

REP. DONNELY:

"I'm not worried about who our opponent is going to be. I respect Senator Lugar, but he voted for all those trade bills that sent jobs overseas. I have never voted for any of them. He voted to try to turn Medicare into a casino, in effect -- a voucher system. I would never vote for that. So I respect him but there are big differences."

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