Turning a spotlight on his business credentials at a time of economic recession, Tony Raimondo on Thursday proposed a stimulus plan tied to job creation.

The Democratic Senate candidate called for increased investment in building and repairing the nation’s infrastructure and creation of new jobs through development of clean and renewable energy.

In addition, Raimondo said, an innovative job training program that he has helped spearhead in Nebraska to upgrade worker skills could be extended nationally.

During a telephone interview following a news conference in Omaha, Raimondo endorsed proposed tax cuts for middle-income Americans, assistance for homeowners caught in a mortgage crisis and extension of unemployment insurance benefits.

“We need to refocus on the squeeze in middle America and on our domestic needs,” he said.

Raimondo, chairman of Behlen Manufacturing Co. in Columbus, said voters will have their pick of three different resumes when they choose a new U.S. senator during a year in which the nation is teetering on economic recession.

“I’ve had 40 years of creating jobs in good times and bad,” he said.

“If we need bipartisan decisions, my kind of experience in the middle can help meet the needs of middle-class American workers.”

Raimondo was a lifelong Republican before changing his party registration to Democratic and entering this year’s Senate race.

The other two resumes are held by likely Republican nominee Mike Johanns and Scott Kleeb, the other big name in a four-man Democratic primary contest.

Johanns is Nebraska’s former governor and recent U.S. secretary of agriculture.

Kleeb, who teaches history at Hastings College, was the 2006 Democratic congressional nominee in western and central Nebraska’s 3rd District.

“We need a national economic policy that will re-energize our economy and create jobs,” Raimondo said.

Raimondo endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposals earlier in the day to provide assistance to troubled homeowners and extend unemployment assistance.

“Those are very positive moves instead of just bailing out the big guys,” he said.  

Raimondo supported Obama in Nebraska’s Democratic presidential caucuses last month.

“I think we’re way overdue in making sure there are tax breaks for the middle class,” Raimondo said. “If we do anything, we could leave off the top 2 percent” of wealthy taxpayers in providing or extending tax relief.

Until last month, Raimondo served as chairman of the state’s worker training board, which oversees a program to help businesses retrain workers to adjust to global competition and technological change.

That effort to help companies and workers address “the skills gap” could be applied nationally, he said.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.