Orlin Cole sat at his kitchen table with a President Bush biography in front of him.
"I didn't believe that book would change my mind, but it has a little bit," he said. "I don't think he's helpless like I used to think."
America is in deep trouble, Cole said, adding Bush has a tough job to do.
"We may be in more trouble than we were in 1942," he said.
For the past 32 years, Cole has been a write-in candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. Cole said he used to be a Democrat but changed his party affiliation to Republican in the '70s because many Democrats he knew didn't really stand for anything.
"They just expected to get votes because they were Democrats," he said. "You've got to have something going for you."
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Cole, 76, said he continues to run because there has never been a candidate he could respect.
"I didn't like anybody," he said. "I'm the best qualified of all of them, going way back."
He said truth is something current politics lack.
"I'm almost honest," he said.
One of the first things Cole said he would do if elected to the House is eliminate the gasoline tax.
"That's what's holding the economy back," he said. "George said the economy is good - that it's getting better - but it would zoom if you cut that price back by about a buck."
He said another priority is canceling delinquent student loans. He said he has sons who have them and doesn't see how they are going to be able to pay them off with all the compound interest rates.
"It really isn't that much money to the government, but to the students, it's a lot of money," he said.
This year, Cole is running against Richard Romero and Rep. Heather Wilson for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District seat.
"I don't know too much about Romero," he said. "But Heather ought to take early retirement."
Cole said Wilson is really after Pete Dominici's seat in the Senate.
"She isn't going to get it," he said. "Pete's going to stay in there until he's 90."
Cole said John Kerry is a war hero and deserved the medals he received, but is choosing a bad time to run for president.
"He should have ran when he was a young man and not against an incumbent wartime president," he said.
Cole, who doesn't campaign, said the number of votes he gets fluctuates.
"One year I got two and one year I got 505 votes," he said. "I'll keep running forever."
What happens if he gets elected?
"Oh my God," he said. "I'll surprise 'em."
