Faster than one could say "Janezich," the DFL-endorsed candidate for the U.

Thursday, September 07, 2000

Faster than one could say "Janezich," the DFL-endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate raced across Minnesota Wednesday.

Make that faster than one could say "Janezich." It is, after all, a somewhat difficult name to pronounce and in a field of seven DFL hopefuls in next Tuesday’s primary election, name recognition will count for something.

Jerry Janezich plans to visit all eight congressional districts and more than 40 Minnesota communities by next Tuesday.

On Wednesday, he started the day in LaCrescent, went to Lewiston and then St. Charles before traveling on to Austin and Albert Lea and points beyond.

"While our primary opponents spend the last seven days of this campaign playing ‘my dollar is bigger than your dollar’ on television and setting spending records, we will be traveling the state talking with real people about the issues that matter to them," Janezich said Wednesday in Austin.

Actually, the candidate talked while traveling through Austin in a van. He was running behind schedule and a cell phone had to do.

Janezich maintains he is the "people’s candidate" and said, "The Declaration of Independence doesn’t say ‘We the money’. It says ‘We the people.’"

Janezich, a state senator from Chisholm, said DFL voters have a clear choice next Tuesday.

"DFL voters will not only decide which one of us should take on Rod Grams, they may very well decide whether the party of Humphrey and Freeman continues to be the party of the people or whether our elections should go to the candidate with the biggest checkbook," Janezich said.

"I believe Minnesotans want candidates for higher office to earn their voters – not buy them," he said. "Unfortunately, this campaign has become a live billboard for campaign finance reform."

What makes Janezich stand out among seven DFL hopefuls in next Tuesday’s primary? For one thing, he isn’t a millionaire.

"The U.S. Senate should not be a millionaire’s club," he said. "Of the four candidates running for the DFL nomination, only one is not a millionaire. Only one lives in rural Minnesota. Only one has been a working class individual all his life. Only one has been working to earn votes – not buy them. Only one has the political will to fight for the average Minnesotans because he is an average Minnesotan."

Janezich is the state senator who authored legislation that became the Breakfast Bill that guarantees every low- and moderate-income family’s children will have a free nutritious breakfast to start the school day.

He said that issues such as education and agriculture will remain a priority to him if he is elected to the U.S. Senate.

So, Janezich takes his party’s endorsement and runs – literally and figuratively – across the state to push his name to the forefront of DFL voters’ minds

State Sen. Pat Piper and state Rep. Rob Leighton, both of Austin, have endorsed the candidate.

Char Blowers, Tom Higgins, Donna Olson and other party faithful were on hand Wednesday to wish the candidate well as he sped through Austin.

"I want to get in touch with as many people as I can in Minnesota before next Tuesday’s primary," Janezich said.