US Senate candidate Mike Ciresi says his second race for the Senate seat differs this time around... because this time he's going to win.

Ciresi is best known as the trial lawyer in the firm that won the Minnesota lawsuit against Big Tobacco in 1994.

He lost the 2000 DFL Senate nomination to Mark Dayton.

Ciresi says his own outlook differs from Senator Norm Coleman's republican "trickle-down" theory of government:

"We can't predict who's going to come up with a cure for a specific type of cancer - she could come from the poorest home in the state or the wealthiest - but I do know this: if we provide education...good health care for people so that they can reach the full measure of their potential, we're all better off, so the fundamental difference between Norm Coleman and myself is that he believes that 'advantage for the few' is the way to go; I believe that 'opportunity for all' is the way to go."

Ciresi says he doesn't plan on "going negative" in the campaign for the DFL endorsement.

But he does plan to contrast himself with the other candidates, including writer and comedian Al Franken:

"If we have - and I hope we don't, but if we have - another question of war and peace, and you're going to have your Senators making that decision and asking the questions, who do you want examining the people coming in and saying, 'we're going to send your children harm's way - or your grandchildren.' Mike Ciresi or Al Franken? I'll be comfortable if people answer that question. And I think that there's a big difference between us."

Ciresi is Chairman of the Executive Board of a Minneapolis law firm.