Wednesday, August 8, 2012--1:50p.m.
MADISON--If you've been through an election cycle or two, you know that politicians often promise grand things, but delivering on them is a bit more complicated. That's why we've asked these candidates to explain how they're actually going to get things done.

"I think if you get enough people elected that want to move in a certain direction and make those tough choices I think that it helps from that perspective," said Jeff Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald says getting a crop of conservatives elected at the state level helped them get things done here. "I had 27 new members come in to the state assembly as freshmen that were very, very conservative and ran on that message of making the difficult choices and moving the state forward, the same thing has to happen in Washington, D.C."

Mark Neumann--who's served as a congressional representative in the past--says that experience means he knows how to fight for things like balancing the budget and cutting spending. "I even got kicked off a committee by my own party because I wouldn't go along with wasteful government spending," said Neumann. "There are a lot of people on both sides out there, that city's a mess and our government's a mess and they need somebody strong enough to stand up to them as I've done before and plan to do again."

Eric Hovde says the country needs citizen legislators to come out of the private sector to get things done. He says he'll travel the country trying to convince others to step-up. "When our country has faced great difficulties in times of past, think of World War II, the best and the brightest came out of the private sector and went into government to save and protect this country," said Hovde. "We need that again."

And Tommy Thompson says his experiences as governor and secretary of health and human services are what differentiate him from other members of Congress. "I know the Congress inside and out, I've worked with them, I've run one of the largest departments in the federal government," he said. "And I know how state government works. So it's my experience that's going to set me apart from any of my opponents and also is going to set me apart in the United States Senate to be able to start on the first day contributing."