A native of Harlan who’s running for the U-S Senate seat being vacated by Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin, says he’s “An every day Iowan…ready to represent every day Iowans every day in the Iowa Senate.” Scott Schaben, of Ames, a former luxury car salesman and car sales manager, told KJAN News, when he entered the campaign, he received advice similar to that which he heard when he first got into sales.

Scott Schaben

That advice was to “Be a good listener.” Schaben says the rest of the field of candidates includes some “professional talkers,” and he posed the question “Do you want a candidate that’s going to talk to you, or one that’s going to listen to you?”

Schaben is one of several Republicans vying to run against the only Democrat in the race, Representative Bruce Braley. He says while the other candidates talk about ending the partisan bickering and moving the country forward, he can get things done in Congress because of his Blue Collar background and retail sales experience.

He says he’s “Bi-lingual” because he speaks “The language of employer and employee,” therefore he understands the needs of both. Schaben says if elected to the Senate, he’ll focus his energies on the budget and national debt. He says he’s the only candidate that will focus on creating a “Path to solvency.”

Schaben says the last time there was a Senate seat as open as the one being left vacant by Tom Harkin, the entire national debt was 500-billion dollars. Currently, he says the nation is spending over 200-billion per year on interest alone. The figure will grow in the next 10-years to over 500-billion dollars, according to Schaben. He says the “Pathway to solvency is an all-of-the-above approach,” which includes raising revenue by either raising taxes or get more get more people to pay taxes by putting them to work.

That is accomplished he says, by creating an environment where people want to hire and pay people a decent salary, or making reforms in entitlement programs which are part of mandatory spending. Schaben says creating an environment where people are willing to take the risks and become successful entrepreneurs is essential to growth of the economy.