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KT McFarland on Principles & Values
Republican Challenger
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Entered Senate race out of post-9-11 feeling of duty
Q: Why have you decided to enter the race now?A: My decision to do this was prompted by September the 11th [2001]. When I left the Reagan administration in the middle 1980s, I was confident that with the Reagan defense build-up, we had put in place
the policies that would actually lead to us winning the Cold War, which they did. I felt like I had done my public service, like I could put that behind me, and go off and get married and raise a family, which I have done for the last 20 years. But [the
terrorist attacks of] September the 11th changed everything, and I think the stakes are different, much higher in a lot of ways. It's much more difficult than the Cold War was, and it's important for people who have the kind of background I have had, to
step forward and see how they can serve once again.
Q: If this is a post-September 11th issue, why not 2002 or 2004?
A: I in fact, did talk to people in the administration about coming back at that point. But I still had little kids at home.
Source: Interview by Marie Horrigan in Congressional Quarterly
Mar 8, 2006
Protege of Henry Kissinger & in Pentagon under Reagan
Republican critics are now coalescing around a late entry: Kathleen Troia McFarland, 54, a prot‚g‚e of Henry A. Kissinger who has not been in public service since working as a Pentagon spokeswoman under President Ronald Reagan. Yet Ms.
McFarland, known as K. T., is pretty green: She has been a stay-at-home mother since 1985, and was drawn to the Senate race only because she already believed she was going to lose her bid for a Congressional seat on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Source: Patrick Healy, New York Times, p. A1
Mar 3, 2006
Calls herself a moderate Reagan Republican
Perhaps reflecting her inexperience in the political world, McFarland declined to talk at length about issues, saying she was still studying the details. She described herself first as a "moderate Republican" and then as a "Reagan Republican."
Source: Patrick Healy, New York Times, p. A1
Mar 3, 2006