After resigning as Michigan lottery commissioner last August, Gary Peters announced that he is running as a Democratic candidate from  Michigan’s 9th Congressional District against Republican Joe Knollenberg.

Peters is running mainly on three issues –  the economy, health care and the war in Iraq. As it relates to the economy, Peters’ plan is to focus on the outsourcing of jobs. “The outsourcing of jobs is not only taking away good-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector but good-paying jobs in the service and professional sectors as well in this country," he said. "I believe it is the policies of Bush and Knollenberg that have accelerated the process of outsourcing and costing us good paying jobs.”

Peters’ health care strategy is to find ways to expand coverage and lower costs. “I believe that it is unconscionable that we have 47 million Americans without health insurance and even those who are lucky to have health insurance are finding health care increasingly unaffordable. So we need radical reforms of the health-care delivery system in this country to allow every American to have the health coverage that they need, said Peters.

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As for the war in Iraq, Peters believes we need to start withdrawing troops immediately. When asked how he proposed to end the war, Peters responded:   “Ultimately, it is the Iraqi people who have to come to a political reconciliation and the fact that we have U.S. troops on the ground is only hampering that process of political reconciliation.

"I believe we need a plan to get them all out as quickly as possible but I think we all realize that in order to do that, that may take 12 months or 18 months, but the most important thing is that it has to start now, we have to start withdrawing troops, we have to have a plan in place, and we need to bring them out in a safe and responsible fashion.”

Democrats desperately want to defeat Knollenberg, who has represented the Oakland County district since 2003,  and are hoping for a safe and responsible Democratic primary. In the 2006 election cycle, Nancy Skinner ran against Knollenberg and came within five points of winning when conventional wisdom said that Knollenberg would win easily. Now that Nancy Skinner is running again, some Democrats fear that if the primary battle between Peters and Skinner is too bruising, the eventual nominee would not be strong enough to effectively challenge Knollenberg.

Asked what  the biggest difference is between him and Skinner, Peters  replied: “I have a demonstrated record of fighting for progressive issues in the Michigan State Senate. My opponent has been a radio talk show host whereas I have been in the trenches fighting the political battles for many years here in Michigan. So if I had to summarize, it would be a choice between a talker and a doer.”

But Peters is focused on the general election.  “I think it’s important not to lose sight that the important thing is not to win a primary, the important thing is to beat Knollenberg," he said.  "And we are going to be running this campaign in a way to prepare to run against an entrenched incumbent that will have millions of dollars in his campaign.”

During Peters' last campaign,  for attorney general in 2002,  he  lost to Republican Mike Cox  by 5,200 votes with over 3 million votes cast. It was one of the closest statewide elections in 70 years, but Peters did not challenge the vote and was appointed lottery commissioner by Governor Jennifer Granholm in April, 2003. Peters’ career also includes  a stint on the Rochester City Council, three terms as a Michigan state senator, VP of investments at UPS/Paine Webber, lieutenant commander in the US Navy.  On resigning from the lottery,  Peters also became  Griffin-endowed chair  in American government at Central Michigan University.

Peters remarked on how running for attorney general was somewhat frustrating because “you basically have an eight-week campaign that is completely driven by television ads so you have to do a lot of fundraising and we raised well over a $1 million to buy television time.”

Peters is somewhat relieved to be running for Congress because “while you do have to raise money to buy television, radio, and cable advertising, you win these races by going door to door and campaigning in a grassroots fashion and that is how I was first elected and re-elected when I served in the State Senate.”

If Peters becomes the nominee, he is confident in his chances of victory because Joe Knollenberg has never faced an opponent that has been elected and served in the 9th District, so this election he will be facing someone who has not only won elections, but won elections in the 9th District as well.