Thomas H. Andrews calls himself an “advocate and organizer,” talents he intends to take to Washington after the first of the year, once he is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1st District.

Although Republican David F. Emery may have something to say about it in November, Andrews already is discussing his maiden congressional speech.

Andrews served in the state House and Senate and now serves as director of the Maine Studies Center, which investigates new approaches to education.

Against strong odds, Andrews emerged from a four-person party primary and now stands only 4.8 percent behind Emery, according to a NEWS poll. Since Emery served four terms in the 1st Congressional District, from 1974 to 1982, Andrews is obviously thrilled with the poll results.

In an interview with the NEWS Editorial Board Monday, Andrews said the United States is at “a crossroads.” The country cannot continue to be strong around the world if it does not develop new muscle at home. Too often now “the right hand does not know what the left is doing.”

The country is running a deficit in needed infrastructure improvements of $65 billion. Every dollar spent on roads and rails brings back $5 to $7 in investment from the private sector, Andrews said.

After decades of Republican “trickle-down economics,” the “crows are coming home to roost” in the form of higher state and local taxes for the average worker, Andrews said. “The average worker finds his tax burden much heavier today than a decade ago.”

In the Reagan years, the tax burden was carefully shifted from the very rich to the average working family, Andrews said. The benefits to working families from Reaganomics was “largely a mirage.” Both the party that proposed it and the party that bought it were on the wrong track, he said.

The 1981 tax cuts did not create new investment or savings investments, or lower the deficit, as advertised. It was instrumental in changing the United States “from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation” and created “a sea of red ink.”

A reduction in the capital gains tax for the wealthy, as advocated by the Bush administration in current budget negotiations, “will cost us dearly,” Andrews said.

Andrews would look at the national economy as a hard-eyed businessman would look at a struggling corporation and seek methods to stimulate growth and to cut the bloated defense budget.

Despite the tension in the Persian Gulf, public support remains strong for cuts in Star Wars and the B-2 bomber projects.

Even when Maine defense installations are threatened, Andrews argued against a “pork barrel” defense budget. Any industry displaced by defense cuts should be eligible for retraining and other assistance. The new and trimmed defense needs should work in favor of local industries such as Bath Iron Works, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Saco Defense, he said.

Andrews said the problems with Iraq point out U.S. dependence on foreign oil and the need for greater national investment in research and development of solar, wind, biomass and energy conservation techniques.

The true costs of nuclear power will not be known until a safe disposal method has been developed, and alternative transportation modes, including rail, must be developed, he said.

On domestic issues, Andrews endorsed a national health-care plan with universal access, with a role for the insurance company and the employer. Health costs could be lowered by greater preventive measures, including clean-air legislation.

Andrews opposed any limit on campaign terms. “The best decisionmaker is the voters,” he said. He did support campaign spending limits with a greater emphasis on grassroots organization, a tactic Andrews intends to lean on in November.

“You dance with the person who brought you,” he said.