By Meredith Saldana
Reporter
As posted and broadcasted on KTEN, August 25, 2008.

Oklahoma's US Senator, Jim Inhofe, landed in Ardmore Monday for a Carter County Republican Candidates forum. Senator Inhofe told KTEN Monday afternoon his main issue is energy. KTEN's Meredith Saldana has more.

Senator Inhofe landed at Ardmore Executive Airpark Monday.

He says the vast majority of people in America and a greater majority in Oklahoma want the US to be energy independent and that he believes we can do it.

When asked if his Oklahoma roots had any influence on these ideas he said he thinks so.

"When I was a kid I used to work in the oil field and I know a little about it. I know that, yes, I want alternative energy but in the mean time we've got to run this machine called America. Now right down the party lines in Washington, in the United States Senate, all of the democrats are opposed to increasing supply energy. They're opposed to oil and gas, they're opposed to coal and you've got to have something to run this machine called America."

He added that Ardmore's own Noble Foundation and the new OSU facility are major researchers in this area and that he wants them to be able to use switch grass to help generate energy for America.

He says that ethanol mandates are causing prices at the grocery store to rise and that it's just not working.

Senator Andrew Rice just completed a tour of western Oklahoma visiting six cities over three days and says as he travels the state it is clear to him that Oklahoman's want someone in Washington who will put people before politics, someone who will do what's right for Oklahoma, not what's right for either political party. And that that's the type of Senator he'll be.

This article and broadcast appeared on KTEN, www.kten.com, on August 25, 2008.