Jason Lewis calls his first bid for Congress in 1990 a youthful indiscretion.
He was 34 and relatively new to Colorado. His first radio show had premiered two years earlier on a no-name station on the day the Denver Broncos were taking on the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl — both listeners enjoyed the program, he's quick to add.
Lewis lost to Democratic Rep. David Skaggs with less than 40 percent of the vote. But he learned a lesson.
"What I took out of it was to be more discreet in my choices," Lewis said. "But I always thought I had one more campaign in me."
Now, at 60, with 20 years in Minnesota and a stint as a conservative radio show host and author under his belt, Lewis is taking another run at office, this time in the Second Congressional District. He joins a field of candidates vying for the seat long held by GOP Rep. John Kline, who is not running for re-election. Lewis, the syndicated radio host known as "Mr. Right" who appeared on KTLK on the Twin Cities, retired from the radio business last year. Although he's long been pushed to run for office, Lewis said he was motivated by an economic situation he hasn't seen since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.
"Things should be better than they are right now. This is the slowest recession recovery in the modern era," Lewis said. "This is not a recovery that instills confidence in people."
Lewis, who says his philosophy is libertarian at its roots, famously quit his radio show on the air last year. He had planned to retire, but wanted to make a dramatic point that if "the productive folks are told they haven't given enough even though they pay the bulk of the taxes, they will eventually quit investing."
That Libertarian streak is one he says sets him apart from other candidates, and even the incumbent congressman.
