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Melbourne, FL - Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL), a physician, voted against the Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), thus helping to prevent the expansion of this program to cover some of the 9 million uninsured children in our country. Dr. Stephen Blythe, a family physician in the congressman's district, takes such exception to Weldon's actions in the congress that he will be running against him for the 15th District seat next year. This may be the first time two physicians have faced each other in a congressional race in fifty years.

Dr. Blythe is a Democrat, and favors an active role of the government in creating a system through which no American goes without access to health care. "There are 18,000 Americans dying each year directly due to a lack of health insurance" says Dr. Blythe. "This is not about 'HillaryCare' or harm to insurance companies - it is about 9 million children and 38 million adults without access to health care. That should be a national shame for our country". Weldon has voted to deny negotiations between the Medicare Program and the drug companies to reduce program costs, and has voted to prevent the importation of affordable medications from Canada, notes Blythe.

While working years ago as a country doctor in the fishing village of Lubec, Maine, on the border with Canada, Blythe served as a provider for the Canadian National Health Program. While he is not sure how such a system would work here, he says he was impressed that "everyone there has access to care, and no one had to worry about being without health care because they were between jobs, retired, or got laid off."

Steve Blythe describes himself as an environmentalist, and is a Life Member of the Sierra Club. After numerous trips to the rainforests of the tropics he developed a large educational website about tropical rainforests to help educate others. "Our environment is the basis of all life" says Blythe. "I will always work to protect our air, our water, and our wild places". Weldon, in contrast, has received a score of zero percent from the League of Conservation Voters, Blythe notes.

Blythe will also challenge Weldon by being against many of the "War on Terror" policies enacted during the Bush administration. "No citizen should be held without being charged with a crime, and our country should never conduct or condone torture", believes Blythe. "And kidnapping people and taking them off to secret prisons is the behavior of the most vile dictators - not a free nation" he ads.

It will be a challenge for Blythe to defeat Weldon in this majority Republican District, but Dr. Blythe wants everyone in this part of Florida to know that he wants to be "the new doctor in the house".