Tubbs: The Nov. 2 surprise?

Rick Tubbs faces an uphill battle if he wants to unseat incumbent George Miller to represent California Congressional District Seven. Miller, a Democrat, has held the seat for 35 years. FiveThirtyEight, a polling blog at the New York Times, projects that Miller is 100 percent guaranteed to win this year. All this might make his Republican challenger look a bit like Don Quixote tilting at a windmill. That is, until you talk to Tubbs himself.

“I think a lot of people will be surprised in the early hours of November 3rd,” Tubbs said with a grin.

“George Miller has done a good job, but times are different now,” he said. “Miller doesn’t even address our country’s growing deficit problem. We need to bring some common sense back into politics.”

The 2010 general election comes at a time when the majority of voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to Rasmussen Reports.

This is Tubbs’s first run for office. He stresses that he is a regular guy who wants to give back to his country. “I grew up in a one-stop-sign town in Wisconsin,” Tubbs recalled. “Our family grew up on welfare. That’s where I started.”

“I was a taker,” he added. “Now, I want to be a giver.”

As of Oct. 13, Tubbs had raised $88,578 for his campaign, less than a tenth of what Miller has raised ($909,235). Tubbs’s top contributors are Maggie Ferrari Jewelry Design and Jelly Belly Candy; each has donated $4,800.

The United Airways pilot has a math degree from California State University, Fresno and lives in Vacaville with his wife and kids. His top objective if elected: balancing the U.S. budget.

Tubbs, who worked as a military budget officer for part of his 20-year career in the military, estimated that roughly $500 billion in the federal budget is wasted.

Citing the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, Tubbs said that the government wastes $98 billion in annual agency overpayments. Between $70 and $120 billion is lost due to fraud in Social Security, which could be recovered if the agency had more manpower to investigate claims.

As a man who knows his math, Tubbs is aware that the road ahead will be a challenge. He said he’ll have to overcome preconceived notions if he’s to have a chance of winning on November 2nd.

“In January 2009, my chances were just above zero. But now, I think the Republicans and Independents in this district are voting for me in high levels. But it’s the Democrats whose votes I have to win. As I talk to them, I have to get over this notion that I’m the ‘Evil Republican.’ I am the reasonable Republican and I am offering up the solutions.”