Recent polls suggest former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is trailing Democrat Rep. Gary Peters in the state's open U.S. Senate race, but Land says she will close the small gap and win because intrusive government is crippling her state, and her opponent is nothing more than a "rubber stamp" for Harry Reid and the Obama agenda.
"It's going to go down to Election Day," Land said. "We always knew that. This is a very close race. This is a close state. We're working hard to talk to the voters, ask for their vote and tell them we'll change the direction of the country."
Land describes Michigan as a purple state, although voters there have elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate only once since 1972.
The seat is up for grabs in Michigan since six-term Democrat Carl Levin announced he would not seek re-election this year. Land served as a Republican secretary of state from 2003-2011, while Democrats controlled the governor's office and the state legislature. Peters is a three-term congressman from the Detroit suburbs.
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If elected, Land said her experience of working with people in both parties would be a benefit to Michigan and to the nation. She said one immediate benefit of her election would be to improve the odds that Republican ideas see the light of day on the Senate floor.
"The biggest hindrance to all of this is Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)," Land said. "He has not allowed over 400 bills to come up from [the House of Representatives] to vote on in the Senate, everything from energy security and the economy to jobs and all of that. We need to change the direction of the Senate, so that we can vote on these bills up or down and send them to the president."
She said electing Peters would result in more of the same in Washington.
"Gary Peters would just be another rubber stamp for Sen. Harry Reid. We'd be in the same situation we are today. We need to change the direction of this country. He does not support balancing the budget and cutting and making sure the government works for the people. He's had a history of voting for taxes. He [says] he supports women, but yet he pays women in his office 67 cents on the dollar," said Land, who also accuses Peters of supporting the outsourcing of American jobs through various votes in Congress.
According to Land, the Obama presidency has been bad for Michigan for a number of reasons, but she said the state is especially wounded by a flood of environmental regulations.
"In our state, we have the manufacturing industry, farming and tourism," Land explained. "Now we've got the [Environmental Protection Agency] putting in new regulations that put the pedal to the metal on greenhouse gases and making utility companies up costs. It's going to increase costs for not only manufacturers but also for individuals with their home utilities."
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Terri Lynn Land:
The GOP nominee also said she's committed to getting the nation's fiscal house in order and she argued Step 1 in congressional accountability is making members feel the pinch if they don't get their jobs done.
"We need to balance the budget. I propose that if we don't pass a budget that's balanced that you don't get paid in the Senate until you do," said Land, who noted that eight years in statewide elected office prepared her for the task.
"As secretary of state, we went through the dark days of Michigan, where Gov. (Jennifer) Granholm and Congressman Peters' (an official in the Granholm administration) policies lost over 800,000 jobs in our state," she said. "We said we need to reduce and consolidate every program that we have. So we looked at literally every program, eliminated programs, looked at positions when they came open when people retired or left and went from 2,100 employees down to 1,500 without any layoffs. We reduced our whole operation by over 20 percent and kept out costs down."
When asked where she would start trimming at the federal level, Land believes there is an obvious candidate for cutting a lot of spending.
"Obviously, the biggest thing is Obamacare. That is a huge cost, and it doesn't work. It's been a disaster, and that would be the first [thing] to go," she said.
"We need a health-care system that works for Michigan and our country, one that's portable and that you can buy with pre-tax dollars, one where the costs are competitive because you can purchase it across state lines and making sure you can keep that doctor-patient relationship."
The Real Clear Politics average of polls suggests Peters leads by nine points, but pollsters are also stunned by the huge number of still-undecided voters less than two weeks before voters go to the polls. Land said the choice of direction for Michigan couldn't be more clear.
"Whether it's outsourcing, raising taxes or not balancing the budget, that is not good for Michigan and would not put Michigan first," Land said. "I'm going to go down there and put Michigan first."