Posted Sunday, June 3, 2012 --- 5:00 p.m.

The story of how Lori Compas came to be running for state senate--and against the chamber's majority leader, no less--is an interesting tale. And not one, she originally pictured herself a character in."I decided that Scott Fitzgerald should be recalled....on March 9, 2011 when he convened a meeting that was in violation of the open meetings law," she said.

She became the driving force behind the effort to recall Sen. Fitzgerald, but never planned to run against him herself. "There were several people in our district who I thought would be perfect candidates and I tried to get them to run, they weren't interested, and the volunteers cheered me on so I decided to run," she said.

Her almost accidental entrance into the race aside, her campaign is a threat the long-time Senator is taking seriously. "I've been telling my supporters, you know hey we've got to go out there and do the door to door, we've got to make sure that people get our message either through paid media or some of the volunteer efforts," said Sen. Fitzgerald.

While he's not taking Compas' challenge lightly, the senator seems confident in his record. "I feel like I've got a good message and the message is that the reforms are working, they're working for Wisconsin," he said.

The senator said indicators point to that Wisconsin is heading the right way. "You've got more people working, more revenue being generated as income tax is collected and you also have that unemployment rate dropping, so those two things I think in concert, kind of, I think demonstrate that Wisconsin is definitely moving in the right direction," he said.

Compas said if elected, she wants to return the focus to her district. "I think we need to encourage small businesses, we have a few large employers, but the vast majority of our businesses are small," she said. "And so I want to steer tax incentives and mentoring support towards small businesses so they can be successful and grow."