Congressman Mike Michaud, a Democrat who has represented Maine’s 2nd Congressional District for the past eight years, isn’t known for giving rousing floor speeches or being the loudest guy in the room.

Most voters know him as a soft-spoken politician who has carved out three issues to focus on while in Washington, D.C. — fair trade, veterans and transportation infrastructure. His back-story by now is familiar, too: a former Great Northern Paper Co. employee from Millinocket turned state legislator, turned Senate president, turned congressman. He’s one of the few members of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress without a college diploma.

Now he’s up for his fifth re-election to the largest district east of the Mississippi River, where times continue to be tough and the unemployment rate is worse than the state’s current rate of 8.3 percent.

Michaud is not oblivious to the problem.

“I’ve talked very bluntly with (President Obama) about the fact that we need to have an industrial policy here in the U.S.; if we are going to bring down the deficit and provide jobs, we’ve got to manufacture. We cannot survive on the service sector jobs, we’ve got to make things,” he said in a recent interview.

He said he’s concerned about the massive federal deficit and the high rate of unemployment, but insists the problems are rooted in decisions made, in large part, by the previous Republican leadership, in both Congress and the White House.

“This did not happen overnight,” Michaud said. “(They) had a surplus (when President Clinton left office) and now they have put us in a huge deficit, in large part due to the prescription drug bill and two wars. It’s ironic to hear my Republican counterparts complain about getting our fiscal house in order now.”

But it’s time to move on, he said.

“Everyone knows the economy is terrible. We’ve got to move forward. It’s important that we pull together,” Michaud said. “We are at a crossroads here in the U.S. with a huge deficit, the economy and two wars. We have to rely on foreign countries to pay our debt. Elected officials are putting party preference in front of what’s best for the United States of America. I think we can do it (pull together).”

Michaud said during his last term in the Maine Senate, the body was made up of 17 Democrats, 17 Republicans and one unenrolled member. As a result, he said, he had to work closely with Republican leadership in order to function.

“It worked very well, because Rick Bennett (the Republican leader then) and I sat down and worked together,” he said. “It’s about communicating with one another, and that actually builds up trust as well. When we dealt with bills that were divided in committee, we were able to solve the problems. It’s not about making one party look bad, it’s about how do we solve a problem?”

Leadership is crucial, Michaud said, because they set the tone of debate.

Though Maine’s current delegation is split, with two Democrats in the House and two Republicans in the Senate, Michaud said they find ways to work together and help all Mainers, even on thorny issues such as health care.

“Sen. (Olympia) Snowe was very involved in health care negotiations, and I called her up and ran an idea by her and she thought it was great,” he said.

The idea would have elevated Maine’s Medicare reimbursement rates to the level of medical providers in the Boston area.

“It would have a huge affect on the cost of insurance,” he said.

Maine medical providers frequently explain that because the reimbursement rates, which are determined by the federal government, are so low they end up charging private insurers more to make up the difference.

Michaud blamed leadership on both sides for “a lot of political posturing,” which has prevented Congress from passing much-needed health-care reform.

When it comes to accomplishments, Michaud said good things are coming. He pointed to state and federal investment in wind power technology development at the University of Maine in Orono and the establishment of the Northern Border Regional Commission.

The commission, which was part of the 2008 Farm bill, was created to address community and economic development needs of the most troubled areas of the Northeast, including 12 counties in Maine and others in New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

“A lot is happening in Maine in the 2nd District and I feel optimistic about it,” he said.

Michaud also said his work on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, and his chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Health, is bearing fruit.

“We’ve got the largest budget in the history of the (Department of Veterans Affairs),” he said. “Even more important than that, we’ve got advanced funding for the V.A. One of the problems they have had in the past is that hospitals like Togus aren’t able to move ahead because they don’t know how much money they are going to have, year to year.”

Locally, Michaud said he’s been able to bring benefits closer to Maine veterans. VA clinics have opened in Bangor and Lincoln, there is a new “access-point” in Houlton. In Lincoln, there are more than 1,000 visits by vets annually, and the community-based clinic in Bangor is scheduled for completion in March 2011. In Lewiston-Auburn, a new community-based out-patient clinic is scheduled to be completed by December 2011. There are also two mobile veterans clinics, which travel to rural areas to help veterans living there, Michaud said.

Michaud said he stays focused in Washington by remembering why he’s there.

“When I first ran for Congress, I was in Lewiston and a lady gave me stuffed bunny, I think it was around Easter time, and she gave it to me and wanted me to bring it to Washington as a reminder that I am here for the little people,” he said. “I told her I would, and, actually, I have it sitting on top of my lunch bucket that I carried for 25 years at Great Northern to remind me why I am here and who I represent. I look at it every day.”

He said he wished other members of Congress would do the same — remember why they are there.

A member of the fiscally conservative “Blue Dog” caucus, Michaud has shown a willingness to buck his party line, like when he voted against final passage of the bank bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program in the fall of 2008, though it was supported by a majority of House Democrats.

More recently, Michaud has voted with his party on a number of highly polarized issues, such as health care, cap-and-trade climate legislation and a jobs bill.

“We’re not here to represent any specific interests, we are here to represent the people of our districts,” he said. “Any time you set aside partisan politics, the legislation gets better. These issues aren’t Republican issues or Democratic issues, they are America’s issues. Both parties have good ideas, and as public officials we have to craft policies that are good for everyone.”

For more information, visit www.michaud.house.gov/