The senator says it's a great way to get local feedback.

"So that we can actually get a sense of what's going on on the front lines, and that's why we really wanted to be up here in this office, it's important for me to have an office up here on the Range."

Newly sworn in Virginia Mayor Steve Peterson introduced the senator to the local elected officials in the room.

"I've been Mayor for about 19 hours, so talk about cutting your teeth!"

"Well, you already got a senator to come up!"

The Senator says the anticipated boom from several large scale projects currently under way is something she's actively involved in.

"I really am very focused on the economic development potential going on on the Range right now, and I want to see the Range get a piece of this energy revolution, with oil hitting more than one hundred dollars a barrel."

Looking ahead, the senator says, the new year provides new challenges like the war in Iraq, energy issues, and health care.

An issue she says is playing a large role in this years presidential campaign.

"I think a lot of states could learn from some of the work we've done here in Minnesota with rural health care and quality of care, and having some protocol in place for some of these cost drivers of diseases. We also need to cut out some of the middlemen and expand healthcare."