State Sen. Gary Peters says although most Michigan residents don"t know who he is right now, he will continue his fight to be the next governor of Michigan in 2003.

"We"re still very early. There"s no question there are some folks that are better known than I am, because you"ve got statewide officeholders and a gentleman who is the second-ranking Democrat in Congress," he said.

Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.), currently trailing far behind other, high-profile contenders for the Democratic nomination former Gov. James Blanchard, state Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and U.S. House Minority Whip David Bonior of Mt. Clemens met last night with the University"s chapter of the College Democrats at the Michigan Union to promote his candidacy.

Peters maintained throughout the meeting that his experience as a two-term legislator and a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and Paine Webber make him more than qualified to head the state beginning in 2003. He also emphasized his role as the ranking Democrat on four Senate committees more than any other senator.

Peters also said the key to Michigan"s future success is a strong education system, which, while he admits Michigan has one of the best, says is too expensive. He said Gov. John Engler"s emphasis on tax cuts and exemptions as a way of attracting business to the state was misguided, saying that businesses will usually move out of the state as soon as their exemption expires. Instead, he said, businesses look for a strong education system and a highly educated workforce when they look at potential homes.

He also criticized the Engler administration for having poor priorities with regard to the environment. He said the state should not issue leases to firms that want to drill for oil in the Great Lakes, citing safety hazards, and he supports legislation to prevent the issuing of the leases. Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, who is seeking the GOP nomination, has distanced himself from Engler on the issue and does not support oil drilling in the lakes.

Staying on the issue of the environment, Peters said the civil servants at the Department of Environmental Quality, who have studied conservation in college, have been undercut by Engler"s appointees appointees he says too often disregard the environment in favor of promoting business.

History, however, might not be on Peters" side in his run for the state"s highest office. The last state senator to make a successful run for governor was Engler, the Senate majority leader. But Engler"s three immediate predecessors were Blanchard, a U.S. representative when he first ran for the office William Milliken, who first ran as an incumbent after George Romney"s resignation and Romney himself, who gained recognition as chair of the convention that revised the state Constitution in the early 1960s.

Peters said he will win by campaigning hard and that being state senator will not prevent him from claiming the governor"s office. The new nature of campaigns, he added, may give him a boost as an underdog.

"You can learn more about a candidate through now the use of the Internet than you ever could in the past with 30-second sound bites on television or even newspaper reports."

Peters" other opponent for the Democrat nomination is state Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith of Salem Twp., whose district includes Ann Arbor.