Jim Matheson: “I do not like deficits. I do not like debt. When I first decided to run for public office, I never had heard of the Blue…”

“I do not like deficits. I do not like debt. When I first decided to run for public office, I never had heard of the Blue Dogs. I was a candidate working hard, talking about issues that I thought were important and the notion of being fiscally responsible, the notion of trying to pay down debt. That was really important to me. As I got involved in being a candidate, suddenly I heard about this group called the Blue Dogs, and the more I heard about them, the more I said, you know, those guys are saying a lot of the same things that seem to make sense to me, and it has been a group that I am real proud to associate with, for a number of reasons. Number one, they have a reputation for caring very much about being fiscally responsible. Number two, they also have a reputation for just putting the cards on the table. What I like about this group is that we try to get away from a lot of the rhetoric, and we are real open to discussion.”