Incumbent Republican Tom Coburn is running for a second term in the U.S Senate and will be challenged in Tuesday’s election by Democrat Jim Rogers and independents Stephen Wallace and Ronald Dwyer. The winner will hold one of two seats in the U.S Senate representing Oklahoma.

A poll conducted by SoonerPoll.com earlier this month found that 62 percent of voters favor Sen. Tom Coburn, with his closest opponent, Democrat Jim Rogers, receiving 22 percent. This is the largest lead held by a Republican in any race in Oklahoma.

PERENNIAL CHALLENGER

Rogers, a Democrat who has run for U.S. Senate four times and lieutenant governor another, has no campaign website and is vying to win the election with less than $700 in campaign finances, according to the 2010 Associated Press election guide.

The 75-year-old won the Democratic primary over Mark Myles, a lawyer from Oklahoma City, with 65 percent of the vote, according to the Oklahoma Election Board website.

Efforts to reach Rogers through his Facebook page prompted a response from someone saying Rogers “has responded to interview requests in the past sent to 8623 E. Reno Ave. in Midwest City, Okla. I also know that he spends a lot of time campaigning in the new plaza in Midwest City at Air Depot and SE 29th Street.”

His top priority if elected would be to stem the outsourcing of jobs from the United States to other countries and shore up the nation’s debt, according to the guide.

THE INCUMBENT

Coburn, 62, R-Muskogee, received more than 90 percent of the vote in his primary over librarian and frequent candidate Evelyn Rogers and retired teacher Lewis Kelly Spring.

Coburn hopes OU students consider voting for him if they want to re-elect someone who cares more about the next generation instead of the next election, his campaign manager Jerry Morris said.

“Congress is now dominated by career politicians who are willing to exchange greater debt and diminished freedoms in the future for short term political gain today,” Morris said in an e-mail. “The threat posed by these selfish actions is very real and it is imminent.”

If re-elected to a second and final term, Coburn would continue his work to fight reckless and wasteful Washington spending and he would continue to make the Federal government more transparent, Morris said.

Coburn began October with $1.7 million cash on hand finances, according to a Federal Election Commission report.

THE INDEPENDENTS

Wallace, 61, I-Tulsa, is a former member of the Republican party and previously ran for James Inhofe’s senate seat in 2008. He felt there were more opportunities to represent himself as an independent, outside of the party guidelines

He hopes OU students consider voting for him because he will bring fresh ideas to the Senate.

“He’s of conservative background so he’s not going to let us get into trouble fiscally,” said Nancy Shafran, Wallace’s campaign consultant. ”Once you get fiscal problems, everything else goes downhill fast. If you can maintain fiscal responsibility then the challenges fall into place a whole lot easier.”

Wallace graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in language and linguistics. He received his master’s from Southern Methodist University, and a bachelor’s in political science from Loyola University in Chicago.

His objectives, if elected, are to abolish death and estate taxes, put a fiscal freeze on all federal branches of government, propose a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and create a national referendum for term limits, Shafran said.

Dwyer, 77, I-Tulsa, did not return multiple phone messages over a six day period. He has no campaign website.

His top priority if elected is to put in place a program under federal law that can increase the monthly income by $4,000 for every man, woman and child in Oklahoma. The program would eliminate unemployment and welfare programs, while financing government in a new way, according to an interview with the Oklahoma Prosperity Project.