U.S. Senate race, in person, on the issues: Mike McFadden

I've not run for office before. I'm proud of that. The biggest issue in this country is that we've created this professional class of politicians, and it's killing us. We'd be much better served by people who have real-life experience, whether it's a businessperson or an educator or a farmer or a lawyer, going to Washington.

People are really turned off by what's going on in politics and how hyperpartisan it's been. People are dying for leadership and authenticity. What I see in Washington is a bunch of followers. I'll lead; I'll be accessible; I'll be accountable; I'll take action.

Al Franken is the most partisan senator in the Democratic Party. He is the least likely to cosponsor a bill in the United States Senate. Al Franken has voted with the Senate Democratic caucus more times than Harry Reid, more times than Elizabeth Warren. He's in a universe of one.

I signed a contract with Minnesota and said if I voted 97 percent with anyone I will not run for re-election. I won't vote to shut down the government. I don't want to put the full faith and credit of the U.S. government at risk.

I'm for pipelines. If you're not for pipelines, don't vote for me. I'm going to work to get the mines open in an environmentally sensitive way. If you're not for that, don't vote for me. I'm for radically changing how we do education in the inner city. If you're not for that, don't vote for me. I'm for a first-class health care system that is state-based, market-based and patient-centered. If you like Obamacare and think it's the right solution, don't vote for me.

The reason I get so excited about energy is that it's a complete game-changer. We could be doing so much better. We've had the slowest rebound from a recession in the history of the country. People do not feel like they're moving in the right direction. The ability to reduce energy costs significantly has a phenomenal impact on this economy. Most importantly, with low-cost energy we become a manufacturing superpower again.

Al Franken is opposed to pipelines. He's very connected with an extreme element of the environmental movement. I reject this false choice that says you're either for jobs and business or you're for the environment. I believe you can be for both. The Keystone Pipeline has passed multiple environmental assessment studies.

Germany has the toughest environmental laws in the European Union, and you typically would have an answer on these types of projects within six to nine months.

I support energy exports. [Former Treasury Secretary] Larry Summers and the Brookings Institution have said that the exportation of crude will lower costs. There's a world market for energy, and if there's a bigger supply of energy out there, you drive down the cost.

I'm as frustrated with my party as with Democrats that we didn't lead on the health care issue. It's one of the reasons I'm running. I believe Obamacare is the wrong solution.

I believe health care policy should be run at a state level, not at the federal government level. I believe there is a better way to drive down the cost. I want to have a nexus between the user and the provider. I like health savings accounts. I'd like Minnesotans to have the opportunity to buy insurance across state lines, so they have more choice. I want to get rid of the medical device tax. I want reasonable tort reform.

I'm a big fan of portability. We had a system before where people with pre-existing conditions couldn't get insurance at a reasonable rate. It was wrong. It was a dark cloud on our society. I believe we should subsidize that high-risk pool. The federal government has a role in providing the funding for that subsidization.

I think it's fundamentally unfair that an employer is treated differently than an individual [on health insurance premiums]. If more individuals were responsible for buying their insurance instead of getting it from their place of business, there would be a stronger nexus between the cost of health care and the user of health care.

And I think you'd also see health insurance policies that really started looking like insurance — meaning that you're trying to mitigate risk. My guess is that people would have higher deductibles, just like when they buy homeowners insurance or car insurance.

Knowing what it costs, what the doctors are charging, knowing what insurance costs — those are good policies that will make for a more efficient system.

In Medicare, the two cost drivers are demography and health care costs. I think it's important that we have problem-solvers sit down and address this. We have to drive down health care costs. On the demographic side, the sooner we do things, the more we can do things in a way that will not affect anybody who is near retirement, because they haven't had a chance to plan for it.

It needs to be addressed in a nonpartisan way, but as soon as people try to address it there are ads about them pushing their grandmothers over a cliff. I think it's irresponsible. What's not fair is to not fix it.

I was very happy to see the president say that we'd do strategic bombing in Syria and continue in Iraq. But I can't tell you how frustrated I am with his complete lack of a foreign policy. Leading from behind makes the world a more dangerous place, and I'm running against someone who has supported every one of this president's foreign-policy blunders.

I don't currently support troops on the ground. There are three things I'd want to hear from my president before I would agree to it: One is the strategic objective; two is the scope of the mission — how do we define success, not a timetable; third is we go in with such force that we ensure success. I haven't heard the president address those.

I think it would be good policy for the president to get the vote from Congress so we can show the world a unified front, that we will fight these barbarians and stop them.

The most dangerous issue we face is a nuclear-armed Iran. I don't believe we should have ever lifted the sanctions. They were working.

Higher-education tuition has increased at more than double the rate of inflation for over 20 years. We need a lot more transparency in higher ed in terms of what things cost. I'd like to see colleges report what their outcomes are, what their job placement rate is and what the average salary is, so families and students can make informed decisions.

Students have gotten the short end. We've got to get this economy growing again. Millennials are so concerned about the economy. Their unemployment rate is 15 percent, and then, if they're getting a job, it's not the job they want.

I wish more Minnesotans were aware that we have the worst outcomes in the country for students of color. We're in last place. It's not acceptable. It's immoral. But whether it's Cristo Rey or Hiawatha Academy or Harvest Prep or Kipp Academy, we have multiple data points of a much better way to do it.

What I would like to see from a policy standpoint is, in broken school districts, federal dollars would be allocated away from those broken school districts to dramatically increase the number of charter schools in that district. And then I would measure those charter schools locally and continue to fund the ones that have results.

Under Title I, I don't want to see another dollar going to a school district that's broken. I have a solution, and in order to implement that I'm going to need some brave souls on the other side of the aisle.

To address the national debt, not only do we have to address long-term spending, but we have to grow. Every one-tenth of one percent increase in GDP equates to approximately $276 billion of additional revenue into the Treasury over 10 years.