By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Duskin C. Lassiter, a truck driver from Lexington, has filed as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Elizabeth Dole.
He is the first candidate to file, though Chapel Hill investment banker Jim Neal and state Sen. Kay Hagan have said they also will be Democratic candidates.
Lassiter, 37 and self-employed, already has established a Web site, on which he gives his bullet views on issues such as education, immigration, the Iraq war, health care, the economy and the environment.
In a video introduction on his Web site, Lassiter say he has personally felt the impact of the country’s bad economic policies.
Voters can return “the same old policies that don’t work, or we can choose a better way,” he says.
Lassiter describes his “bold plan” as equal to what President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the country before World War II.
On Iraq, Lassiter says U.S. forces should be removed when Iraq’s police and military are trained well enough to maintain the peace. Lassiter wants other efforts in Iraq to be focused on fixing infrastructure, reinstating state industries and installing renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Lassiter says the United States also should negotiate power-sharing plans with the Sunni, Shiite and Kurds in Iraq. Otherwise, the U.S. military should step up efforts to find Osama bin Laden, he adds.
On education, he says a person’s “general education” should include two years of college. On health care, he favors universal health cards with computerized records.
Free trade agreements should be replaced with “balanced-trade agreements,” according to Lassiter.
Lassiter says he opposes toll roads, a possible issue for the Yadkin River bridge between Rowan and Davidson counties.
He says the minimum wage should be raised to $12 an hour and property owners targeted for annexation should be allowed to vote on the question.
In filings Wednesday at the State Board of Elections in Raleigh, Democrat Howard Staley filed for Dole’s seat, while U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican from Concord, filed for re-election in the 8th Congressional District.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.