Rice paints Inhofe as do-nothing partisan

OKLAHOMA CITY - Democrat Andrew Rice says people are beginning to take notice of his Senate campaign as he hammers at Republican incumbent Sen. Jim Inhofe's record, which he says is light on accomplishments and heavy on partisan politics.

Rice, in an interview with The Associated Press, promised to be bipartisan and pragmatic in seeking solutions to such problems as the country's dependence on foreign oil and the lack of health care coverage for many Americans.

He labels Inhofe, who is seeking a third full term in the Senate, as an "extreme" partisan.

"He's up there to have political fights and does not really seem interested in getting things done for his state," the 35-year-old Rice said. "It's his own fault when I beat him."

Rice, a first-term state senator, said he considered himself to be independent-minded, "pretty conservative" on issues such as gun control and illegal immigration and progressive and moderate on others.

"I try to be a public servant and not so beholden to the competitive, partisan aspect of the two-party system," he said.

He accused Inhofe of coming late to the position of using wind, compressed natural gas and other energy alternatives to oil to solve the country's energy crisis.

Rice said the 73-year-old senator joined President Bush and Dick Cheney in a misguided policy of focusing solely on Iraq in the war on terror, while largely ignoring Afghanistan until recently.

He said Inhofe is "pretty much isolated politically" with his stand that global warming is a hoax and is at odds with John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Rice said McCain is running commercials warning of extremists on both sides - those whose plans to combat global warming are too rash and those "who do not want to even acknowledge it is a problem. I don't know anyone else except Jim Inhofe who really fits that bill."

For himself, Rice said he was proposing converting state vehicles so they could use compressed natural gas a year ago, before T. Boone Pickens announced his energy plan, which calls for more use of wind power to free up natural gas now used to generate electricity.

He said it was a no-brainer to expand wind energy in Oklahoma, saying that could bring 15,000 jobs to the state.

On health care, Rice said he would use an approach suggested to him by a member of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, in which insurance companies will have a role in expanding coverage to the uninsured.

Rice said high-cost treatments for the uninsured, such as emergency room care, are costing $45 billion a year.

"We're bankrupting the country by ignoring this," he said.

Although Rice got less than 60 percent of the vote in defeating a perennial candidate in the primary, he said his campaign got a lift, according to internal polling and polling by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, after he spent $307,000 on television advertising.

He plans to begin running more ads after Labor Day, while he says Inhofe has bought air time through to the Nov. 4 general election.

"We will be going up and be competitive from week to week as we build on our campaign funds," Rice said.

Bob Darcy, an Oklahoma State University political professor, said it will be difficult for Rice to overtake Inhofe.

"He's running a vigorous campaign, but he is not going to be helped at the top of the ticket, not at all," Darcy said of the likelihood of a poor showing by Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential race in Oklahoma.

On the other hand, Darcy said Rice is the type of candidate who can pull off a surprise, a legislator with not much of a record to target.

"That is the kind of guy we elect senator," he said.

Little-known legislators who won statewide races include Democrat David Boren, who was elected governor in 1974, and Republican Don Nickles, who became a U.S. senator in 1980.

One of Rice's ads said Inhofe has been in Washington 22 years and has "lost his way." Another commercial highlights his efforts to pass legislation to expand health care coverage.

Examples of "losing his way," Rice said, were Inhofe's votes against delaying Medicare cuts and student loan spending.

He said he was surprised Inhofe had run commercials touting his leadership on the cleanup of the Tar Creek Superfund Site after initially opposing a buyout for homeowners in the area.

He said while Inhofe takes credit for protecting state military installations and bringing military contracts, that is "basic stuff" that any other senator would do.

"Not fighting for Tinker and Fort Sill, I think is sort of akin to David Boren announcing this next week that he is going to cut the football budget by 50 percent," Rice said.

Josh Kivett, the campaign manager for Inhofe, said the incumbent's campaign is confident Oklahoma voters "will once again cast their vote for Sen. Inhofe and his record of leadership for our state."

Kivett called Rice's criticism "almost laughable" and added: "It seems Sen. Rice will say whatever it takes to get elected.”