John Borling thinks flying Air Force jets is the “most fun you can have with your clothes on,” but he wouldn’t mind becoming a U.S. senator.

A retired Air Force general, Borling is running for the soon-to-be-vacated Sen. Peter Fitzgerald seat in the U.S. Senate. Borling stopped in DeKalb to speak to local media outlets before leaving for Rock Island. He said he had never had an interview with a student newspaper before.

Six Republican candidates have declared their candidacy for the senate spot.

Despite coming out as a Republican candidate, Borling has some concerns about his party of choice.

“The Republican party … needs lots of rebuilding,” he said. “That’s why I’m glad I’ve only been a Republican for four months.”

Borling’s views differ from a mainstream Republican candidates, especially concerning one hot-button issue.

“I’m the only pro-choice Republican in the race,” Borling said. “War is the last resort of the sovereign. And I think women should have sovereignty over their bodies.”

He said he did not support partial birth abortions, however. He said he felt the Republican views tend to deter women and young people.

Borling is targeting four groups in his campaign. One group is women. Another is people under 25 years of age. Having been in the Air Force for 36 years, Borling said he has been around young people for much of his life.

He offered some advice to NIU students and college students in general.

“Everybody fails,” Borling said, “but the trick is not to be complicit in your failure.”

Borling said “precious little” can be done on the federal level to help the budget concerns Illinois universities are facing.

“I think the academic administration of our schools, federal, state and local levels, colleges, secondary schools and elementary schools are saddled with an enormous administrative overburden,” he said. “There needs to be a shake-down.”

He spoke frankly about the budget situation.

“So you’re asking me a question about what I want to do about the budget crisis,” he said. “I will say we’ve got to re-engineer your institutions, we’ve got to re-engineer the government, just like we re-engineer businesses. I don’t think the answer is a federal bailout, if you really want to know the truth.”

His campaign is focusing toward veterans as well. Borling served in Vietnam and was shot down on his second combat mission.

He spent six-and-a-half years in the Hanoi Hilton prison camp with Sen. John “Johnny” McCain.

“You learn a lot,” Borling said of his time in the Vietnamese prison camp. “I learned how to take a very negative circumstance and make it positive. I learned how to keep the faith with my fellows, my country and my God. And I learned not to be afraid of death. And I learned, certainly, not to be afraid of life.”

One recollection Borling had about his Air Force days mirrored a continuing concern here at NIU.

“In the Air Force, once, we had an 8-by-10 [inch] paper shortage,” Borling said, “so they sent out a notice to everybody to quit using 8-by-10 paper. And guess what? It was on 8-by-10 paper.”

Borling spoke seriously about his concerns at the federal level.

“In the end, being a senator is not going to be the best job I ever had,” Borling said confidently and considerately. “I’ve been on the hill my whole life. It’s a trading floor where men and women of principle wrestle with the affairs of the nation.”

He supported the war in Iraq. He said he felt the government needed to follow through and continue to keep a presence there.

Borling has lived all over the world and speaks a number of languages.

“I can get into trouble at bars with five different languages.”