Despite an opponent who is challenging all partisan politics, U.S. Rep. Tom Udall is sticking with a Democratic platform for his re-election campaign: health-care, No Child Left Behind, environmental conservation, Social Security protection and diplomacy over war.

Much of Udall's platform revolves around juveniles.

With more than 6 million uninsured Americans, Udall promises to fight for easier access to health care, starting with the many uninsured children. Udall also wants to see healthcare programs that "have the ability to be expanded." In education, meanwhile, those elected in November will be voting on President Bush's No Child Left Behind next year.

Udall said the program is not working now.

"We got to the point when we're talking about failing schools instead of continuous improvement," he said. "The top companies have a 'continuous improvement' mentality."

Udall also wants to revisit attendance and special education requirements for No Child Left Behind testing. Those expectations have kept many good schools, including Rio Rancho Public Schools, from obtaining passing grades.

Social Security, Udall said, and pensions must be maintained because families want to see their parents and grandparents protected.

Conservation was a big point for Udall, who had just helped pass the Ojito Wilderness Act and the Valle Vidal Protection Act.

As for local transportation issues, Udall said he would consider helping. The federal government, he said, is trying to fund better transportation alternatives. He had already spoken with Mayor Kevin Jackson about rail, bus service, bike and walking trails, and ways to encourage carpooling.

While progress has been made locally, Udall is seeing problems overseas, particularly in Iraq.

"The military is stretched pretty thin," he said. "Our push should be to stabilize things there."

Udall said he favored redeployment of troops with a small force remaining. He said it would send a message that the United States wants that area to be stable. Redeployment, he said, would take only six months.

"We've trained a significant number of their people," Udall said. "They need to take over."

Udall, meanwhile, wanted to see direct talks with Iran to deal with their nuclear program. One snag to that arrangement is the administrations refusal to guarantee the military will not invade, he said.

In Israel, Udall wanted to see a high-level team of mediators, specifically former presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton.

"We've seen Condoleeza Rice go in and out of the region without much impact," he said.

The U.S. has had some impact on Israeli policy, however.

"Israel listened to our request on a 48-hour suspension (of force). We have a long relationship with Israel. We believe in Israel's right to defend itself," Udall said.

Udall is also supporting diplomacy in Korea and is a proponent of Gov. Bill Richardson's efforts to reach out to that nation.

While Udall is sticking to the Democratic issues, his Republican challenger, Ron Dolin, is challenging all partisan politics on both sides of the aisle. At Sunday's candidate forum in Placitas, Dolin challenged Udall's record of 97 percent of the time voting with his fellow Democrats.

Udall did not speak about Dolin during the interview.