MADISON - The first time John Rounsaville headed to work in Washington, D.C., he jumped in his 1988 Jeep, fresh out of college, and drove north eagerly and wide-eyed.
He was going to work as an advisor to U.S. Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, Jr., the Republican from Flora, on agricultural issues.
Although he's a fan of classic cars and hopes to build a vintage Shelby Cobra from scratch one day, Rounsaville no longer has the '88 Jeep. (He sold it in D.C., reasoning he didn't need a vehicle to park and maintain.)
The next time Rounsaville heads to the nation's capital, he hopes to do so with a little more style, along with far more experience and maturity.
Rounsaville, who lives at Bradford Place off Hoy Road with his wife Laura, is expected to officially announce soon that he will seek the Republican nomination to the state's Third District seat in the United States House of Representatives to hopefully succeed Pickering.
Pickering announced last month that he will not seek re-election to a seventh term.
The son of an appliance repairman and part-time cattle rancher, the Big Creek native from Calhoun County has spent the past 11 months working as state director of the U.S. Development Authority for Rural Development.
He was appointed to the position by President George W. Bush in October of last year, replacing Nick Walters of Ridgeland.
Rounsaville, 32, resigned from the USDA position last Friday in order to clear the way for his campaign.
He says that he plans to carry on the legacy of Pickering and the seat's previous occupant, G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, particularly his strong military support for bases in Mississippi, like the Naval Air Station in Meridian.
Ronald Reagan is one of Rounsaville's political role models.
His time in politics, including his five years in Pickering's office and as policy advisor to Gov. Haley R. Barbour, is what will distinguish his candidacy, Rounsaville believes.
"I bring more experience to the job than anybody, and more qualifications to the job than anybody," Rounsaville said.
Rounsaville also touts his work across the state as rural development director and his intricate knowledge of individual communities. He understands the needs of suburban places like Madison County, where he says economic development is perhaps the top priority, and, say, rural Kemper County, where drinking water might be an issue.
"There's probably not a county in the district that I haven't helped effect in some positive way," he said.
Finally, there is his general optimism for where the district and the state is heading.
"I just really feel good about the future of Mississippi," he said.
Rounsaville may have started out in Washington by chance: a phone call from Pickering's office to Mississippi State seeking a graduate who was strong in agricultural economics got him the job (Rounsaville has a master's degree in agribusiness).
But quickly overcoming his tenderfoot status, Rounsaville rose to be Pickering's legislative director and then his deputy chief of staff.
He helped set legislative priorities for Pickering, drafted legislation and dealing with delegations of local elected officials who sought federal dollars for projects.
"When Gene McGee or Mary Hawkins-Butler would come up there with a wish list of projects, it was my job to kind of see those through to the appropriations process," Rounsaville said.
McGee is mayor of Ridgeland and Hawkins-Butler is mayor of Madison.
During the congressional recess in August 2003, Rounsaville volunteered on Barbour's gubernatorial campaign.
When Barbour was elected, Rounsaville eventually took over as the new governor's policy advisor, serving in that capacity until President Bush appointed him to the rural development post.
He helped craft Barbour's workforce training initiative, which he said is one of Barbour's greatest successes. He also dealt with the recovery process and community grants after Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast.
Rounsaville says that he displayed both a practical knowledge of local communities and the ability to compromise with political opponents that will translate well to Washington politics, where he thinks the biggest national issue is energy research and consumption.
"We see it all at the gas pump," he said.
As a Reagan follower, Rounsaville says that he wants to be a fiscal conservative in Washington who focuses on low taxes, responsible budgets and clean government - but get every penny he can for Mississippi.
"People probably expected a big turnaround after the last election. It hasn't gotten better. It's only gotten worse," he said. "People are disgusted with bad government. They're disgusted with corruption."
But he also believes that since the federal government appropriates billions of dollars every year, Mississippi might as well get its fair share. Again, this is where his federal and state experience will help him greatly, he argues.
"You need to have someone who knows what levers to pull and what buttons to push to deliver for Mississippi," Rounsaville said.
When he isn't thinking about what buttons he'll bush and what levers he'll pull in Washington, Rounsaville likes to kick back with a John Grisham novel. On the heavier side, he is currently reading "Collapse," a book by Jared Diamond on past civilizations and their implications for the future.
But Rounsaville also manages to stays true to his rural roots by doing some duck hunting around the backwaters of Grenada Lake and fishing as well, and by listening to the alt-country group the Old 97s, his favorite band, on his iPod.
Conservation is also on his mind when he thinks about his favorite figure in history, Teddy Roosevelt. Rounsaville says he admires the 26th President for his courage and dedication to the nation and its environment.
"He never put himself above doing what the common man would do," he said.
Along with Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Reagan would also make it to Rounsaville's ideal dinner party. He said that he would like to draw on their wisdom and what they had in their minds as they drew up plans for a young United States.
But closer to his heart and mind than any of these historical figures is his father, a Vietnam war veteran who was given nothing in life but sacrificed everything for his family, Rounsaville says.
"He didn't get rich doing what he did, but he was able to provide for his family," he said.
It is this blue collar ethic that he hopes to bring to the campaign trail in the Third District, with the help of his wife and the rest of his family.
"I'm going to shake every bush between Starkville and Natchez," Rounsaville said, with a laugh. "My wife is my rock. Without family support, I don't think you can run an effective race."
