NEW HAMPTON - For the past eight years, Rep. Brian Quirk, a Democrat, has represented House District 15, which includes Howard and Chickasaw counties and parts of Winneshiek County.

This year, a 23-year-old University of Iowa graduate is looking to change that.

Dan Lensing of Fort Atkinson was nominated by petition as the only challenger to Quirk, 40, of New Hampton. But Lensing will have his work cut out for him: He's never been in politics before, and Quirk was re-elected in 2006 with a whopping 68 percent of the vote against a Republican challenger.

That won't hinder Lensing. He received his undergraduate degree in economics this spring, and said he got tired of seeing "anti-American sentiment" and war protesters in Iowa City.

"Toward the end of the school year I was looking for some jobs, but I wasn't finding any that I liked," Lensing said. "I just looked on the Internet and saw you only had to be 21 (to run for the Iowa House of Representatives) - I figured I might as well go back home and try to make a difference in our state."

His biggest issue, and one undeniably big this election cycle, also happened to be what he majored in - economics.

"We have so much foreign debt in terms of national deficit," Lensing said. "(I will be) trying to reduce our government and nonessential government organizations. That's the only way we can reduce our deficit is by reducing our government."

Quirk agreed the economy is a big issue, though mostly at the federal level.

"Right now the economy's got everybody scared, but there's not a whole lot we can do at the state level other than assure people our banks are stable," he said. "On the other hand, we have an emerging industry in biofuels and renewable energy that has been sustaining our economy."

Renewable energy is where Iowa shines, especially on the production of wind energy. Gov. Chet Culver has proposed "25 by '25," a plan to get 25 percent of Iowa's energy from renewable sources by 2025.

"I think that's a good goal, although I don't know how realistic it is," Quirk said. "The big problem is infrastructure. We can build all this stuff but we have no way of transferring it there."

Lensing agreed with Sen. John McCain's assertion that health care is a privilege, not a right, and said the government shouldn't be subsidizing it.

"It's going to end up leading to longer waiting times, lower quality of care," he said. "To me, that feels like it is one very large step toward socialism."

Quirk said he has "been disappointed" in trying to reduce health care costs at the state level, and he's hoping a new administration will usher in changes to help the states better deal with the problem.

"A lot of federal regulations the state is not allowed to change," he said. "I'm very excited to work with the next presidential administration. We need changes at the federal level."

Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.