Salazar listens

DELTA — Sen. Ken Salazar stopped in Delta and Olathe on Tuesday, discussing local concerns at Delta-Montrose Technical College and touring the Rocking W Cheese plant.

“I’ve always thought that whenever we look at our farming community, we look at our farmers, the ranchers, they’re the hardest working people that one could ever come across. They’re truly the salt of the Earth,” Salazar said while touring the plant.

Delta and Montrose counties are part of the “Highway 50 West Region” in Salazar’s regional plans because of their common interests and proximity. He has mapped the state into 10 districts and has a list of objectives for each of them.

At the college Tuesday he addressed each of these before a group of about 30 regional residents and leaders. He invited their questions and many eagerly expressed their concerns regarding such issues as conserving public lands, developing hydroelectric power, opening the Olathe farm dorm to foreign workers on visas and expanding water storage.

Salazar spoke with the Daily Press regarding immigration issues and national politics. He said comprehensive immigration legislation, which Congress failed to pass in 2007, may not be passed until months after the next president takes office.

“I think we’re probably a year and a half away from getting that done,” he said. “I think for the first hundred days that (the) president is going to concentrate on issues of national security and health care and on energy issues.”

He said he “would hope” immigration is among the next priorities.

There’s been talk of Salazar’s potential for running as vice president on the Democratic ticket.

“I think when people speculate about who’s in the veepstakes, it could be anybody — like it’s too early to tell,” he said.

“I would say ‘yes,’ but the chances of that happening are extremely remote and it’s not something that I think about because my job, frankly, is to be the best U.S. Senator that I can be — and to do that takes a lot of time.”

Salazar has not endorsed either of the remaining Democratic presidential nominees, though both have asked for it. As one of the state’s 15 superdelegates, his vote could make a difference in a close race.

“You know, I think there’s a tough fight going on between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and I’ll wait to see how it all comes out,” Salazar said.

Prospective Republican nominee Sen. John McCain became Salazar’s mentor shortly after he was elected to office, according to an article in the New York Times.

“John McCain is a very good friend of mine and he’s someone for whom I have a lot of respect,” Salazar said Tuesday. “I think though that many of the policies that he would follow are very similar to what President Bush has followed the last four years.”

He said that though he agrees with some of the president’s policies, he thinks it is time for change.

“I just think we need a new direction, and in many ways a term of a president McCain would be very similar to a third term for George Bush.”

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com