BARLOW, DAVIS CHALLENGING ISTOOK

Democrat Lou Barlow said the 5th District's current congressman is
ineffective and he hopes voters will make a change on Tuesday.

Barlow, along with Independent Donna Davis, are challenging U.S Rep. Ernest
J. Istook Jr. for his seat. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

"A little more than a year ago I moved and looked at who are my new
representatives. It just kind of hit me - I really haven't felt represented
(by Istook)," Barlow said.

By the end of March, Barlow began seriously looking at the race.

"I'm not the guy who wanted to be a congressman since he was 6," he said,
but now he is making a hard run for the office.

Congressman Istook did not respond to three separate requests for
interviews by The Edmond Sun.

Davis said her most important platform is stopping the drug war.

"It's horribly wasteful, destructive and counterproductive," Davis said. "I
don't understand why we keep going that way.

"We spend $49 billion a year (on the drug war)," she said. "We're building
prisons as fast as we can to incarcerate people who have done nothing more
dangerous than smoke a marijuana cigarette. Smoking a tobacco cigarette is
a lot more dangerous."

Davis said she is not a drug user, and never has been, but she believes
America's efforts to stem illegal drug use have failed.

Meanwhile, Barlow has been campaigning on issues of education, maintaining
Social Security, providing a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens
and finding ways to bring in more jobs and economic development.

"(Istook) is willing to turn money away from his district. If there's money
available for projects we need, we take the money," Barlow said. "I'm not
going to make a local decision without input from city and county leaders."

Barlow has hounded Istook on his record, how accessible his office is and
about campaign finances.

In September, Barlow questioned Istook's campaign finance reports saying
that between $20,000 and $44,000 in unidentified cash had flowed into
Istook's campaign. Istook, at the time, responded that it was a bookkeeping
error and that the problem had been resolved.

Supporting Istook this year is a group called the Council for Citizens
Against Government Waste, a taxpayer watchdog group. At the end of October,
the group endorsed 18 congressmen for re-election and Istook was the only
Oklahoman who made the list.

According to press releases from the congressman's office and campaign, he
has supported a wide variety of issues for Oklahomans. Those include the
Army's Crusader artillery program, which failed to find funding; welfare
reform including seeking that states will be required to have 70 percent of
welfare families working and participating in other job-preparation
activities 40 hours per week in fiscal year 2007.

Two major campaigns Istook has waged in Congress both include the Internet.

For more than two years, Istook has sought to find a way to fairly tax
goods sold over the Internet. He introduced a bill last year that would
have created a uniform system for states to use to figure taxes on both
Internet and non-Internet retail goods.

One of his most successful efforts was attaching a rider to a bill that
required any libraries or schools receiving federal funding for technology
to put filtering software on the computers. It's called the Children's
Internet Protection Act and met stiff resistance in the courts.

"Libraries should not become peep shows, not at public expense," Istook
said according to an Edmond Sun file story.

Davis said she does not agree with censoring the Internet or television,
and that it's up to parents to determine what their children do and watch.

In the last year, Istook has served as chairman of a House appropriations
subcommittee with jurisdiction over the White House, the Treasury
(including the IRS) and other government agencies. Other Istook actions in
Congress include voting for the Iraq Resolution last month, defending the
Pledge of Allegiance and he has been a chief congressional sponsor of the
School Prayer Amendment.

Barlow, an attorney and businessman, serves as a negotiator, arbitrator and
mediator for school districts through his family business Barlow Education
Consultants. He said he will be a strong advocate for education as both his
parents and wife are teachers and he works with school districts across the
state.

"I understand their funding problems," he said.

The best thing the federal government can do for education, he said, is "to
provide all the financial assistance we can without strings attached."

Barlow promised if elected, he would not cut education funding. He also
opposes the school voucher system.

"We have to make tough choices, but education is sacred to me," Barlow said.

On Social Security, Barlow said Congress needs to work to maintain it.

"If we fix it now, it's going to cost us a lot less than fixing it later,"
he said. "We can't turn our backs on these generations of Americans who
have made contributions."

Barlow said the main thing making Istook ineffective in Congress is that
Istook votes with Republicans on a 95 percent basis. With that record, it
stifles Istook's chances for negotiation with both parties and thereby
makes him less effective.

Barlow promises to look at both sides before making up his mind, therefore
both party leaderships will need to court his vote.