Election 2010: Republican Jane Norton eyes U.S. senate seat former lieutenant governor has enjoyed ample campaign funds but faces tough primary bid.

• Position: ELECTION - Interview

ColoradoBiz: How has your role as lieutenant governor prepared you to be a U.S. senator?

Jane Norton: If you want to be lieutenant governor, you have to run a statewide race. I had the privilege of doing that and being in all 64 counties, meeting people and hearing about what their issues were, raising money and building an organization.

ColoradoBiz: Your closest competitor. Ken Buck, used his showing in the Republican Caucus to brand himself as the grass-roots candidate versus someone who is more closely aligned with what he's saying are Republicans in Washington. What's the message you're trying to send to counter that?

Norton: I'm the private citizen here in this race, and he's the public official. We got into the race seven or eight months after Ken got in the race so we have some work to do to catch up, obviously. We tied in the caucus, and we feel good about that.

ColoradoBiz: Explain your decision to use the petition process to secure a spot on the primary ballot.

Norton: It is not a business-as-usual environment. We have so many people who have never been involved in the process before and are excited to become involved. We decided that we wanted to do a twofold approach: concentrate on our delegates to the state convention and yet increase or maximize our message to the broader primary electorate.

ColoradoBiz: You lost your father recently. That must have been a tough thing to deal with while you're working on this campaign.

Norton: My dad, Walter "Bus" Bergman, was a great American hero. He served in the Pacific during World War I. He was a Marine, 89 years old. He always talked about the guys who never came back as being the true heroes. He was a baseball coach, most recently at Mesa Junior College. He was a competitor all of his life. And he had the opportunity to say, "Jane, I want you to continue on, to work hard and to win this. It's too important to the country."

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ColoradoBiz: What do you make of the Tea Party and the disenfranchised people who feel like they want to make a change and who are making the Republican Party rethink its strategy?

Norton: I think the Tea Party movement is one of the most exciting things I've seen. The fact that people are saying, "I don't like the direction the nation is headed. I want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. I'm tired of just complaining." What we're seeing are people who are getting off of their couches and onto the streets.

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