Traveling by van and getting out on foot, Dr. Ada Fisher has tried to take her U.S. Senate campaign to N.C. citizens.
“I’ve had nothing but fun,” Fisher said Tuesday after returning from a Pitt County GOP barbecue Monday night in Greenville.
Other Republican Senate hopefuls, including Elizabeth Dole and Richard Vinroot, attended the same event.
In Greenville, Fisher took four hours before the barbecue to sit on feed bags, stop in barber shops and visit the East Carolina University campus to speak with voters. She also stopped at the local newspaper office.
Since announcing her Republican candidacy on Labor Day, Fisher has traveled to eight counties, trying to choose “towns I’ve never been through.” She usually heads for the downtown areas and gravitates to places where she sees a congregation of people.
Fisher, a Rowan-Salisbury school board member, said she tries to make about 200 personal encounters a day.
Espousing a 13-point program on issues, Fisher said her campaign has been right on in relation to recent events connected to terrorism and the N.C. economy.
“Ihave been very impressed that I captured what is happening in this nation,” she said.
The third tenet in Fisher’s platform calls for enhancement of the national defense through improved military readiness, shared services among military branches, an expanded pool of national service, compassionate veterans services and examining the impact of mega mergers on national security.
In wake of the terrorist attacks, Fisher said she hoped the country would show the long-term resolve to protect its freedom. She added that the U.S. Senate candidates will have to state their positions on returning to a draft.
Fisher personally favors a national service commitment for men and women that might include options such as teaching or health-care positions.
Fisher says the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington touched her life directly. She has a niece who works at the Pentagon, and one of the hijacked planes crashed through an area where she worked. The niece, fortunately, was not in the section at the time, Fisher says.
Another of Fisher’s relatives also works at the Pentagon and was not injured.
Fisher says her experience in the medical field gives her an idea of how to act against and deter terrorism.
Fisher formerly worked in the Y-12 Plant at the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratories and was the psychologist for anti-terrorist exercises at the plant.
As the threat of bioterrorism as been discussed, Fisher said, it also points to the need of people with her expertise. She most recently was an occupational and employee health service physician at the Hefner VAMedical Center in Salisbury.
“You need doctors in Congress,” she said. “You need people who deal with these kinds of issues, including public health issues.”
Her travels have allowed her to see North Carolina again “with refreshed eyes,” Fisher said. Her campaign has emphasized a faltering N.C. economy and the need to provide better jobs. After seeing some of the economic devastation in the state, Fisher said people need jobs and heart.
Fisher plans to have a Web site by Oct. 1 — www. drfisherforsenate.org
. Her campaign telephone number in Salisbury is 704-637-6134.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or e-mail him at mwineka@salisburypost.com
.
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