Transcripts

SEA STACHURA: A room full of men and women in suits, and fatigues, and decorated veterans caps, sit listening to Tim Walz. This is the United Veterans Legislative Council meeting in St. Paul. Walz is giving more than a legislative update. He's making a stump speech.

TIM WALZ: Our veterans who have served honorably, come each and every year to beg to their own elected officials for the table scraps that are left over in a budget to try and get by has simply ended. The time for that is over.

SEA STACHURA: Walz has been getting a lot of attention from the press for statements like this. He's a veteran. He's also the highest ranking enlisted man to serve in Congress. Both of these are forces behind his policy interests and his political muscle. He views Veterans Affairs as a unifying issue. When asked about specific accomplishments thus far, he points to the $13.6 billion increase in veterans' healthcare approved by the House.

Freshmen legislators are customarily limited to two committee seats. Walz's first were agriculture and transportation. He convinced House leadership to add him to Veterans Affairs. All three are pivotal in this session's Congress and have relevance in Minnesota.

The farm bill is up for reauthorization. The transportation bill is also under consideration. And veterans are up in arms over the Walter Reed scandal. Walz entered Congress with no political experience, but he says that's worked to his advantage.

TIM WALZ: I think I'm speaking with the voice of southern Minnesota. I think there's a clarity of that pragmatic populist that's out there, and it doesn't tend to be overly partisan. Like I say, again, I don't check my DFL credentials at the door, but I also don't check the ability to have common sense and listen to the other side on issues. And I think what's happened is in Washington, it really feels different.

SEA STACHURA: That doesn't mean Walz walked into politics alone, he's used political insiders to his advantage. He hired Kerry Greeley as his campaign manager. She was a high level staffer for John Kerry's presidential campaign. The Minnesota monitor website reports Greeley is credited with Walz's win.

Reporter Aaron Blake writes for the DC newspaper, The Hill. He says since Walz's election, the Democratic Party has pushed Walz and other veterans as the public face for its new approach to the war in Iraq. Blake says that's given Walz more attention than most freshmen legislators. That could be both good and bad. He says some Republicans already call him Washington Walz.

AARON BLAKES: When you kind of start to make yourself a national figure, you risk, the other side saying that you're not paying attention to your constituency. And so, when Tim Walz is on hardball with Chris Matthews, there might be some people in Rochester who say, well, he's doing this for his party, he's not doing this for his constituents.

SEA STACHURA: But Winona State University political science Professor Darrell Downs, says Walz has balanced national attention with local appearances. He's holding a series of farm bill hearings in the district, and he makes regular appearances at local grocery stores on saturday mornings. Downs says the district appreciates the attention, especially compared with his predecessor Republican Gil Gutknecht. Downs says the sticking point will be the results.

DARRELL DOWNS: If he's able to legitimately claim that troops in Iraq are made better off as a result of his and other Democratic efforts, it'll be a great success for Tim Walz. That still remains to be seen whether that's gonna happen, and of course there are three Republican candidates already kind of gambling on Representative Walz's failure.

SEA STACHURA: Downs says Walz risks overreaching. Walz says he's just good at multitasking. I'm Sea Stachura, Minnesota Public Radio News, Rochester.