WESTERN SKIES - September 27, 2005

*** DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES IN 5th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT ***

ERIC WHITNEY: Jay Fawcett is a former Eagle Scout who went on to graduate from, and teach at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He flew helicopter combat missions in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star. He's active in his church and is now in the private sector, where he advises the U.S. Northern Command.

If that sounds like someone with a pretty good shot at getting elected to Congress from Colorado Springs, consider that Jay Fawcett is also a Democrat, and that a Democrat has never held the Fifth Congressional District seat that he's running for in the thirty-three years it's existed.

Mike Miles, the Colorado Springs Democrat who ran for Senate in 2006 gave a nod to the challenge ahead when he introduced Fawcett at Fawcett's formal candidacy announcement this morning.

MIKE MILES: The odds are hard. But he also knows what he's fighting for and he knows how important that is. He knows he can make a difference, and just like the Cinderella man, he's going to win. So please help me welcome our next Congressman from the Congressional District 5, and our own Cinderella man, Jay Fawcett. [applause]

WHITNEY: Fawcett announced his candidacy today in both the Springs and Buena Vista, on the west side of the six county congressional district. He also met with some veterans in the Springs today. His announcement emphasized the importance of thoughtful leadership.

JAY FAWCETT: I believe that we have a country that can do so much more with leadership.

WHITNEY: Fawcett sees leadership as the chink in the armor of the Republican stronghold on El Paso county and the rest of the district. Longtime observer of Colorado politics Bob Loevey, who teaches at Colorado College, says it would take "a perfect storm" for a Democrat to win in the fifth district. Lovey says it was carefully crafted by the Republican party as a stronghold, when the Republicans held power in the statehouse. Fawcett says that his friends have questioned his sanity, but he says he's undaunted.

FAWCETT: So, when people say to me, "It's a Republican stronghold, it's a safe seat." And I've heard all those sorts of things. I start paying attention to what's actually going on. Not whether or not certain organizations get national publicity, but what happens when the county commissioners go to the City Council meeting and there's a shouting match. Now, that doesn't look like a solid block Republican party to me. It looks to me like some people that are looking for solutions in leadership.

WHITNEY: Fawcett didn't directly attack Joel Hefley, who's represented the fifth district for the last nineteen years. That might be because Hefley hasn't yet said whether he'll run again in 2006. But several prominent Republicans are positioning themselves, with varying degrees of aggressiveness, to be their party's candidate if Hefley does step down. Fawcett instead took aim at the Republican party.

FAWCETT: The party that's currently in power has had a chance to define and articulate its vision, and they haven't. What they've done is react to several things that have happened in the world without ever explaining to the American public as a whole where they think the country needs to go.

WHITNEY: Beyond promising better leadership, Fawcett's speech was vague on the specifics of his vision for America. His campaign literature identifies Social Security as an issue, and promises to take better care of veterans. It also says that the U.S. should stay in Iraq until that country can be stable on its own. But, Fawcett said, had he been in Congress at the time, he would have voted not to invade Iraq in the first place.