Some of you may have heard of Mark Schauer, although if you live outside of Michigan (like me), chances are that if you have heard of him, you don’t know enough about him – because there is a lot of good things to know.

If you are looking to take a brief break from the Presidential candidate wars, you can hear thereisnospoon and I interview Mark today at 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific on our BlogTalkRadio show.

Mark’s website is here, and you can find out why he has a lot to offer the people of his district as a Congressman, what he plans to do differently in Washington as he is doing now in Michigan, the issues facing his district, and his other thoughts on how he will serve his constituents if you listen to him in his own words at 1PM Eastern today.

Mark is running against freshman incumbent and right wing extremist Tim Walberg, who is close to on par with my very own wingnut Congressman, Scott Garrett.

You can hear (and see) Mark respond to the most recent Michigan Governor’s State of the State address by clicking here.

Mark is a great candidate for a number of reasons. His fundraising numbers are stellar (he has raised around $500,000 so far). He wants to help create jobs for the people of his district. His opponent is a freshman who is out of step with America’s values. Here is some background on Mark from his State Senate website:

Mark Schauer, a resident of Battle Creek, currently serves as the Senate Democratic Leader. He also serves as the Democratic Vice Chair for the Senate Government Operations and Reform Committee and as a member of the Campaigns and Election Oversight Committee. Before being elected to the State Senate, he served three terms in the Michigan House of Representatives.

Prior to serving in the State House, he was a Battle Creek City Commissioner. Sen. Schauer also previously served as the Coordinator for the Calhoun County Human Services Coordinating Council; Executive Director of the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan; and as Urban Planner for the Calhoun County Planning Department.

As a state legislator for nearly 10 years, Mark has been a consistent advocate for quality and safe schools, early childhood development and investing in prevention, job training and economic development, and access to health care. He has also worked hard to provide neighborhood and community safety through community-oriented policing, to protect consumers and small businesses, and to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

His community involvement includes Food Bank of South Central Michigan; Habitat for Humanity; Urban League of Battle Creek; Chambers of Commerce; and Lifespan and Kids ‘n’ Stuff board of directors.

Here is his position on healthcare:

Washington needs to admit we have a health care crisis. I would always put the need to ensure and expand health care insurance coverage for children ahead of party politics or ideology. In fact, I helped lead an effort here in Michigan to push for a strong federal children’s health insurance program, sponsoring an initiative in the State Senate and traveling throughout the state to set the record straight about this important measure. In Congress, I would work in a bipartisan way with my colleagues to preserve this critical initiative. We must diligently pursue policies that allow greater access to coverage and drive down the skyrocketing cost of care.

And this is what he has already done in the State Senate with respect to jobs:

In the state Senate, I have worked to bring business and labor together to protect and expand jobs in our area. I’ve worked with Michigan companies like Kellogg’s, Duncan Aviation, Michigan International Speedway, Sparton Corporation, Eaton Aerospace and others, helping them to stay in Michigan and grow their businesses. And I have always supported Michigan workers – voting for an increase in the minimum wage, fighting to protect the earned inco me tax credit tha t helps low-income workers, and teaming up with former Congressman Joe Schwarz to save the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base.

Mark is certainly someone that we want to have on our side in Congress. Mark is someone who will fight for what is best for the people of his District – not the corporate influences that have infiltrated many levels of the Federal Government. And of course, he will be a tremendous asset in Congress – a major step up from the current Representative of Michigan’s 7th district.

If you want to help change Congress and have them start working on the priorities of Americans as opposed to corporate interests, the why not contribute to his campaign?

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I recently posted a diary announcing a series of BlogTalkRadio interviews with Democratic Congressional candidates as furthering the majorities in Congress, especially with progressives, is a sure fire way to help our cause. Not only do I think this is a great opportunity to hear these candidates in their own words talking about their district, their campaign and the issues they hold dear, but also to keep some focus on Congress, because without more progressives in Congress who are willing to stand up and fight for the ideals that we discuss here daily, it really won’t matter if Clinton, Obama, Romney or McCain is in the White House because a progressive agenda would not even begin to be seriously discussed, nor would a right wing agenda be able to be thwarted.

Prior interviews in this series are below:

We also have commitments from a few others, but no dates set. We will keep you posted, and if there are any folks out there who work on a campaign, or know someone who is either a candidate or works on a campaign who may be interested, we would love to hear from you.

I hope you can listen live, and if not, we will be posting the interview at Heading Left, which is BlogTalkRadio’s official website for progressive internet radio and podcasts.

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