Singer: Well let's get into a little bit of telecommunications policy. As a part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress effectively gave television networks billions or even tens of billions worth of spectrum to develop HDTV. In return, these companies pledged to give back some of the spectrum they already controlled, which they still have yet to do. Do you think this process is moving quickly enough?

Miller: Not nearly quickly enough and I'm very disappointed that they continue to delay it. It's impacting, for one thing, our homeland security, because their spectrum is necessary for communicating among our first responders. Also, of course, there's money that should be paid into the federal dish. The broadcasting community has a tremendous benefit by getting access to this technology, to this spectrum, and the taxpayers should be getting more return on that investment.

Singer: In general, with Congress eying a rewrite of that Telecommunications Act of '96 potentially in this Congress but possibly spilling into the next Congress, what type of changes would you like to see occur outside of the spectrum issues for HDTV?

Miller: First of all, I would be surprised if Congress gets anything done this year, Jonathan. They're meeting less than the 1948 "Do Nothing Congress." They're almost never in session. They're all over the country doing other things. George Allen is everywhere except Virginia. So if they even get to the telecommunications reform legislation I'd be surprised.

In terms of a very important concept, though, that we have to promote, that's net neutrality. The idea that you're not going to have an internet which starts to have different tiers on it and only wealthy people and large businesses can take advantage of the internet. Why the internet has been so powerful is it has been so egalitarian. The rich people, poor people - everybody, once you get on the internet, has been able to access it.

Now we haven't done a very good job, as you know, of getting broadband deployed throughout this country. Even though the internet was created right here in Virginia, not very far from where I live, we have now fallen to 14th in the world in broadband deployment. So we have to take more proactive steps to make sure that every person around the country and every person in Virginia has access to the internet.

Singer: Let's get to some of Senator Allen's record. There are a lot of seniors in Virginia. What do you make of the Medicare prescription drug bill, which Senator Allen voted for?

Miller: It's a disaster. And as I travel around Virginia - and I've traveled over 10,000 miles now around the state, to all parts of the state - I've talked to a lot of seniors. They are scared and frightened. A lot of people admit to me, a lot of older Virginians, that they voted for George Bush and they voted for George Allen and they're now having buyer's remorse. They're sorry that they did, because instead of focusing on the concerns of the people who have worked hard and contributed so much to our society, first George Bush and George Allen tried to wreck the Social Security system and now they've come up with this so-called benefit, which in fact has people very concerned and very worried and very concerned.

We need to have a total rewrite of the Medicare Part D program. At a minimum, right now, they should extend the signup deadline beyond the May 15th deadline because so many people are so scared and so confused. And most importantly, the bill has to be written for senior citizens, not for the pharmaceutical industry. On the critical vote on the Senate floor when the choice was should we go with the pharmaceutical companies or should we go with the American people, George Allen voted for the pharmaceutical companies against the people of Virginia, especially the senior citizens of Virginia.

Singer: George Allen just voted to increase the federal debt limit at a time when there's no end in sight for the immense budget deficits. What would you do as Senator to help pay down our national debt?

Miller: There's several things we need to do immediately. First of all, we have to collect the taxes that are owed. The Bush administration's own head of the Internal Revenue Service reported recently that the government did not collect over $350 billion in taxes owed by Americans. Now who wasn't paying those taxes? It wasn't the poorest Americans, because they don't usually owe taxes. It wasn't middle class Americans and middle class Virginia, because every two weeks they have their taxes withheld from their paycheck. The people who are not paying taxes are the rich friends of George Allen and George Bush, because the IRS under George Allen and George Bush has severely cut back their audits, so people know they can game the system and not pay the taxes they need to pay. So the first thing we need to do is get those taxes collected.

Secondly, we have to negotiate as a government with the pharmaceutical companies. The government is the largest purchaser of pharmaceuticals in the world and yet we basically pay full price because, again, the pharmaceutical companies have convinced George Allen and other people that they should vote for the pharmaceutical companies, not for the American people. That would save tens of billions of dollars a year.

Thirdly, we have to eliminate all of these special interest projects. George Allen last year voted for 13,000 of them. Again, tens of billions of dollars, and very few of those projects benefit Virginia. They benefit other states, smaller states, that don't have the concerns. The per capita that goes to the state of Montana for homeland security is over $20. In Virginia, it's about one-sixth of that. I really don't think, with all due respect to the people of Montana, that Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists are sitting around focusing on Montana. They are thinking of places like Virginia, with our very incredibly valuable ports, with our military establishment, with our intelligence establishment. Yet the system that George Allen is part and parcel of is so broken that more money on a per capita basis is going to a state like Montana than it is Virginia.

Singer: We'll get to the ports issue is just a moment, but one final question about George Allen. This week The New York Times quoted him as saying that he is bored with the Senate. What do you make of those statements?

Miller: Well I called upon George Allen to resign, just flat out simply. He's been Senator when we've had the most awful terrorist attack in the history of this country that killed 3,000 Americans, including 300 right here in his home state of Virginia. He's been Senator when we've sent our young men and women to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been Senator when we've gone from a $4 trillion debt to almost a $9 trillion debt. These things have all happened on his watch. I wouldn't find that boring. I would find that fascinating and important work to do, and I'm ashamed that he's willing to continue to sit in the Senate and say that. It simply reflects how poorly he's doing his job.

I think it's kind of a great giveaway, Jonathan, a few weeks ago, he was asked by a reporter for The New York Times what he thought of Ben Bernanke, and he didn't even know who Ben Bernanke is. This is the man that President Bush had nominated to be arguably the most powerful economic position in our entire country, and George Allen is paying so little attention to his job that he didn't even know who the individual is.

Singer: Now let's get to the issue of ports security that you brought up a couple of answers ago. Where do you stand on foreign control of American infrastructure, including the Dubai Ports World deal?

Miller: We have to be very, very careful about allowing foreigners to control critical infrastructure in this country. So Jonathan, this really masks the more fundamental problem which hasn't been discussed enough and again has been part of the George Bush George Allen mismanagement of our country.

Today, any container that goes in and out of the port of Singapore, any container that goes in and out of the port of Hong Kong, any container that goes in and out of the port of Dubai, for that matter, is inspected by a government official of that government. Today, between 5 and 10 percent of the containers that go in and out of the U.S. ports are inspected by U.S. government officials. That is unconscionable. We all know that the biggest threats to our homeland security are potential of weapons of mass destruction, particularly a nuclear device of some sort. The only likely place that that would come in would be through a port, yet here we are almost five years after 9/11 and we still do not have a system to inspect the cargo going in and out of our ports on a regular basis. That is totally unacceptable to the American people. It's fundamentally letting the American people down in terms of protecting our homeland.

Singer: Let's talk about Iraq. Dozens more are losing their lives in the country, and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said that his country is in a civil war. What should America do to improve the situation in the country?

Miller: We need to bring our troops home as soon as possible and we need to make sure that we do not leave a humanitarian crisis behind. So what I proposed as a business man is we take a business-like approach to this problem. We set very specific goals and objectives - metrics, if you will - for the Iraqi people taking over the defense of their own country. We tell them as you meet each of those objectives, we will bring home more troops. When a certain number of Iraqi troops are trained, we reduce our force structure. When a certain number of police are trained, we reduce our force structure. When a certain number of areas in the country are under Iraqi government control, we reduce our force structure.

And we also have to make it clear that we have no long-term designs on being a long-term inhabitant of Iraq. We need to have the Iraqis defend their own country, not have American young men and women protecting the long-term security of that country.

Singer: Let's just get to the primary a bit and talk about just pure politics. For those who have not had the opportunity to go into depth in reading about your campaign and the campaign of your primary opponent, James Webb, why should people be supporting you and not Secretary Webb?

Miller: Well, I'll let Jim Webb talk about his own campaign. My message is a fairly straight forward message. Washington is broken. We've turned into a totally partisan place with only a focus on the short-term, and we need someone like me with a business background who knows how to get things done, who knows how to bring people together to achieve meaningful objectives, to serve in the U.S. Senate.

And as I travel around this commonwealth - and as I said, I've done over 10,000 miles the last two months, I've done over 120 meetings with people all parts of the commonwealth - I find that my message resonates very well. That they are sick and tired of the mess in Washington. They know Washington is broken. They know George Allen is a major part of the problem because of his constant partisanship, his focus on the short-term, his inattention to his job, and they know that my message of being future-oriented, of being a businessman problem solver, will give Virginia meaningful representation in the U.S. Senate when I'm elected this November.

Singer: Can George Allen be defeated? Or put another way, is it worth the time and the money of activists all around the country to donate to the Democratic challenger to Senator Allen?

Miller: Great question, and frankly when some of my friends started talking to me about running for the Senate, I had the same question. I was so busy with my job flying all over the country and doing things - I did work very hard in Tim Kaine's campaign and Mark Warner's campaign - but I wasn't paying a lot of attention to what the voters were thinking. But clearly there have been public polls and private polls showing that George Allen is not the most popular man in Virginia, by any means. And I am convinced that with the positive message that I have as a Mark Warner Democrat, that I'm going to be the next U.S. Senator.

And George Allen's continued inattention to his job, his constant travels to New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa - these are the kind of things that are really turning the people of Virginia off. And when he says that he's bored with his job, when he doesn't pay attention to his job, when he doesn't know who the head of the Federal Reserve is, that is a message that is resonating.

This is going to be one of the seats, right here in Virginia, that's going to make sure we have a dramatic change in policy. When I win this November, we're going to have a dramatic change in policy and attitude in Washington come January.

Singer: Last question. Is there anything you'd like to say specifically to the members of the progressive blogosphere to get them more involved in your campaign?

Miller: I'm very excited about what goes on in the blogosphere. I'm an internet guy. I've been working on internet issues since the early '90s and went around the world  promoting the internet, and I would always give a speech called "The Internet Changes Everything." The internet changes everything in terms of healthcare, in terms of education, in terms of government services, and I also used to say that the internet changes everything, including politics. And what's really exciting to see is how people in the blogosphere have taken that to a new level by using it as a means of building support, building communication. I hope that they'll come and follow my campaign, get involved in my campaign. We have a huge number of volunteers throughout Virginia. If they want to contribute to my campaign, that's always important, too, because it takes money to run a campaign.

But as an internet guy, I am very excited about the people in the blogosphere. I think they're a critical part of our political process, now. They've become so in a very, very short period of time. And I'm very much looking forward to having their support as I win this election.

Singer: Terrific. Well thank you for joining me this afternoon and good luck in your campaign.

Miller: Great talking to you Jonathan. Look forward to talking to you in the future. Never hesitate to give us a call back if we can provide any more information.

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