U.S. Senate candidate Bill Bowlin made a campaign stop inBrookhaven Tuesday to bolster support for the Democratic runoffelection June 27.

Bowlin will face Erik Fleming, of Clinton, in next week’sDemocratic primary runoff. The winner will advance to faceincumbent Sen. Trent Lott, R-Pascagoula, and Libertarian Harold M.Taylor, of Nesbit in the general election Nov. 7.

Locally, Fleming defeated Bowlin in Copiah County by a largemargin, 1,365 votes to 735 in the June 6 Democratic primary. Thevoting was much closer in Lincoln and Lawrence counties, however,where Fleming edged Bowlin by only 27 votes in Lincoln County and31 votes in Lawrence County.

The key to the campaign, Bowlin said, will be to draw someinterest in the election. Turnout statewide for the primary wasonly about 2 percent.

“Our strategy is to just get out more voters,” he said. “I didvery well here, so getting out the vote is so critical.”

It’s also important to point out the ideological contrastsbetween the candidates now that the field has been narrowed to two,he said.

According to Bowlin, he and Fleming have “stark contrasts” intheir views of national security, marriage and immigration.

Bowlin said the U.S. needs to be “heavy-handed” in dealing withthe Iraqi insurgency and “relentlessly” pursue peace in theregion.

“We need to put them down hard so there’s mistake we’ve won thewar,” he said.

He added victory on those terms would prevent any possiblefuture insurgences.

He said he is also a heavy supporter of the Marriage ProtectionAct, saying he was a traditionalist when it came to the “sacredunion between a man and woman.”

Immigration is a difficult subject, he said, because the needsof the country must be tempered with humanity. He did not supportan amnesty proposal, but agreed the borders needed to be moresecure.

Bowlin, of Hickory Flat, is a veteran of local and regionalpolitics but is making his debut in state politics with thiscampaign.

A farm equipment salesman for 17 years, Bowlin made unsuccessfulbids as a candidate for Congress in the First District in 1990 and1994. He was elected as an alderman in Hickory Flat in 1997 andserved one term.