With this year's general election only a few days away, a political newcomer is already looking to next year's fall election for the 19th District House of Delegates seat.

The district covers the city of Bedford, part of Bedford County and much of Botetourt County.

Lewis Medlin Jr. lives in Bedford County, where he runs a family business in Montvale that manufactures metal brackets used in commercial construction.

Medlin, 56, is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the November 2007 election, and could be a challenger to Lacey Putney, a longtime independent who has served in the House of Delegates since 1962.

Putney could not be reached for comment on whether he plans to run again. The next General Assembly session begins in January.

"Eventually there's going to come a point where Putney says he's had enough. Whether that's this term or next term or whenever," Medlin said.

David Layman, who leads the Botetourt County Democratic Party, said a caucus will be held in April or May to determine who the Democratic candidate will be.

"If Lacey says he's not going to run, I'm sure there will be several people that will come out and run," Layman said.

He described Medlin as a nice, family man. "I'm impressed with his business sense," Layman said.

Medlin has been interested in politics since he was a boy growing up in Washington, D.C, when his mother worked for the U.S. Senate and he occasionally got to sit in on committee hearings.

"I always used to say I'm going to get into politics," he said. "If I wait much longer, I won't do it."

Medlin is interested in the state delegate position because delegates only meet for a few months each year.

"I'm needed here to keep this thing going with my father," he said of the family business. "I can't go full time" into politics.

But he's serious enough about running to have taken a three-day-long candidate training program earlier this year at the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.

"It helps you focus in on what actually you're trying to accomplish," Medlin said.

He has four points he'll start campaigning on after next week's election: getting public schools to provide preschool classes, refunding excess tax dollars from the state budget back to taxpayers, improving safety on rural roads and cracking down on parents who don't pay their share of child support.

"I don't expect to get them all done tomorrow. I'll be real lucky to get a couple of them," Medlin said. "But if you try to work at something, the odds are you can make a difference."

Medlin has been attending Democratic Party committee meetings in Bedford and Botetourt counties, as well as shaking hands with voters at community festivals.

"I want to talk to people," he said.

"That way even if they don't vote for you, at least they can say they know you."