Flying cartoon dogs are not things often associated with a U.S. Senate race, but Democratic hopeful Art Small doesn’t mind the comparisons to “Underdog”, the mild-mannered ’60s cartoon hero.

“His motto was ‘There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here,’ and he’d always triumph,” Small said.

The 71-year-old lawyer and former Iowa legislator said during a visit to Ames Friday he decided to challenge four-term Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, after becoming concerned about the direction President Bush is taking the country.

“[He’s] taking advantage of a huge credit source, borrowing like crazy and running up the federal deficit to half a billion per year,” he said. “That will all have to be paid off by the next generation.”

Small said he would have much rather had someone who has more prominence in Iowa politics run against Grassley, but when no one else came forward, he set out in March to file for his candidacy, he said.

Small served in the Iowa House of Representatives as a Democrat representing Johnson County from 1971 to 1978 and then ran for Iowa Senate. In 1986, he left the Senate to run one of many businesses. His experience as a lawyer, a legislator and a businessman, he said, sets him apart from Grassley, who Small said is a career politician.

“It’s quite a difference from Chuck Grassley, who’s spent his whole life in politics. [He served] long before many people in this state were born,” he said. “I have a different perspective than he does, so I’m able to look at things differently.”

One area of contention for Small was Grassley’s role in writing the recent Medicare reform law, which was passed by Congress in December 2003. The law, he said, was flawed because it benefited drug companies and health insurance companies. Small said he supports a single-payer system, similar to ones used by Canada and France.

Small also said he thinks many of the economic policies of the Bush administration can be compared to families who go on credit-card spending sprees but don’t realize the actual costs.

“We’ve had two major wars, and to fund them, we’ve had three major tax cuts,” he said. “I think it’s ludicrous, especially the burden of paying for all this stuff.”

While in the Iowa House Appropriations Committee, Small said he was able to create a budget that was less expensive than the one proposed by then-Gov. Terry Branstad as well as get more funding for public education.

“You have to look at budgets, and instead of going at them with a hatchet, you have to go at them with a surgical knife,” he said.

He said solutions such as a balanced budget amendment don’t work because there are times when an unbalanced budget and increased spending are needed to fix the economy.

Although Small may have plenty of experience, one thing Grassley has on him is the monetary support to run a high-profile campaign.

In April 2004, Small issued a press release stating that he would not accept any campaign money from special interests. Last month, he set up an donations area on his Web site, which has raised around $8,000, he said.

“It pales, it bleaches completely in comparison to Grassley’s,” he said. “In fact, he made more last month in interest, but we’re not spending much. I’m kind of naturally a frugal person.”

Small said his decision wasn’t a statement about campaign finance reform, but added he did think that the current system was flawed.

However, he did not support the idea that money was equal to speech.

“If you found some way to tweak it a little bit, you could permit changes, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.