Ty Cobb Jr. said he has nothing against Mel Watt.
"I've just had it with Congress," the Salisbury Republican said after filing Wednesday to run for the 12th District seat in the U.S. House.
Cobb's entry means both of Davidson County's congressional representatives - Howard Coble, R-6th, and Watt, D-12th - will face opposition this year. Three Democrats so far are vying for the right to run against Coble in November.
Cobb, 67, a retired Army colonel, submitted his candidacy papers in Raleigh on a light day of filing in Davidson County-related races.
The only other person to file in a contest of local interest was Daniel Gray Caudle Sr. of New London, who joined previously filed incumbent Norman Hunt in the race for two Handy Sanitary District board seats.
Cobb is not the son of the famous Major League baseball player with the same name. As the story goes, candidate Cobb's grandfather was playing baseball in western Oklahoma in 1913 when someone rode up on a bicycle with the news that Cobb's grandmother was going into labor. Someone suggested that if the baby was a boy, he should be named after Cobb the ballplayer - and so he was.
There now is a Tyrus Raymond Cobb IV, the congressional candidate's grandson.
Cobb Jr. graduated from high school in Oklahoma and then from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. During a 21-year career in the infantry, he was wounded and won a Purple Heart and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam.
After retirement, he spent 20 years as a civilian engineer for the U.S. Army Weapons R&D Command and 10 years as co-owner with his wife of a sporting goods store in New Jersey. He and his wife moved to Salisbury three years ago to be closer to their daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons.
During 21 years in the military followed by 20 years as a federal employee, Cobb was legally banned from partisan politics, so he has no history of political activity. "But I don't think I have to be a career politician to find good answers to problems," he said in an interview.
He noted that the approval rating for members of Congress dipped to 19 percent last year before rallying more recently to 23 percent. "Do you know what would happen if you went to get a driver's license and you scored 23 percent on the test?" he asked. "You wouldn't have a license."
Cobb said members of Congress are setting a poor example for individual Americans by constantly running deficits and borrowing money to pay for programs.
He said he also is concerned that "they don't do anything." Congress voted to secure the borders against illegal immigration, but hasn't appropriated the money to do it, he said. "It's a smoke-and-mirrors thing."
Cobb calls himself "a moderate Republican." Illegal immigrants who have been in the United States a long time should "pay the piper a little bit," perhaps in the form of fines, he said, but should be able to qualify for citizenship by showing they have jobs and are learning English.
He promises to end pork-barrel spending and said Congress should begin paying down the national debt. He said the U.S. needs to take better care of veterans, and he describes himself as pro-life.
The U.S. was correct to attack Iraq, based on the information it had at the time, he said. The military did its job, "but a lot of civilians went over there and screwed things up," he added. He thinks the surge is working and says U.S. troops need to pull out "eventually." But he declines to provide a timetable, although he said he would like to see more responsibility turned over to the Iraqis in the next year.
Cobb said the federal, state and local governments need to find a combined way to fund replacement of the Yadkin River bridge between Davidson and Rowan counties.
He proposes the interstate transfer of water - creating an apparatus for sending water from areas stricken by floods and hurricanes to drought-stricken and desert areas in other parts of the nation. "I look at it as something as colossal as the interstate highway system," he said.
Despite his lack of political experience, he said he feels capable of beating Watt, who is in his 16th year in Congress.
"Everybody's vulnerable," Cobb said. "Look at John McCain. Nobody thought he had a chance two months ago."
William Keesler can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 221, or at bill.keesler@the-dispatch.com.