Anton Pearson, a truck driver, rancher and church deacon from St. Regis, says if voters are looking for a true conservative to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus this fall, he’s the one.

Yet Pearson also touts his success in business ventures, which include everything from owning a gold mine to ranching to logging.

“Business is what makes the world run,” he said. “If you can’t make it in business, you can’t make it in politics, that’s for sure.”

Pearson, 64, is one of five Republicans vying for the nomination to challenge Baucus, who’s running for a sixth consecutive term.

The other Republicans are Kirk Bushman, an industrial facilities designer from Billings; attorney Bob Kelleher of Butte; state Rep. Michael Lange of Billings; and accountant Patty Lovaas of Missoula. The winner will be chosen in the June 3 primary election.

Outside of an unsuccessful run for Mineral County commissioner in 2000, Pearson has little background in politics. His candidacy came as a surprise to Republican Party officials when he filed for the race in early February.

Pearson has been actively campaigning this spring, attending Republican Party dinners and events when he’s not busy driving his Peterbilt truck, delivering crushed vehicles to steel-recycling sites in Utah and Canada.

He also started running radio advertisements last week, and said he’s getting some small donations and support from people who read his campaign Web site.

“You’d be amazed at the response that I get when I talk to people,” Pearson said. “They want a businessman, not a politician.”

Pearson, who grew up on a ranch northeast of Conrad, has a long resume of working in natural-resource industries. His family ran logging and ranching operations in Oregon for 25 years; he’s logged his property near St. Regis; he owned a gold mine near Elk City, Idaho, for a couple years.

He bought the St. Regis “ranch,” which is mostly timberland, in 1970. Until the late 1980s, he split time between the Montana property and property near Corvallis, Ore., where his family ran cattle and logging operations.

Pearson wants to help logging make a comeback in Montana, and said those who protest timber sales should have to put up a cash bond that they would lose if the protest fails.

“They need to put the same money that the contractor has put up for that sale,” he says. “The only one suffering from the delay (now) is the guy who has money invested in the contract.”

He thinks Congress should encourage domestic oil production by opening up offshore areas and the Rocky Mountain Front to exploration and drilling: “We’re going to be stewards of the land; we’re not going to wreck the land.”

He also says if Montana and the nation need more electricity, nuclear power is a good option, and should be pursued in the state. It has no carbon discharge and is safe, clean and relatively cheap, Pearson says.

Pearson also is an unabashed social conservative, opposing abortion — except in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is in jeopardy and the fetus is not viable — and favoring a U.S. constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage. He’s a deacon at the Assembly of God church in Superior.

His other political stances, spelled out in stark language on his Web site, are a mix of economic populism and outspoken conservatism. For example, he wants to eliminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and “return industry to the U.S.,” as well as remove the United States from the United Nations, “restore schools to discipline, morality, safety (and) true American history,” and eliminate federal taxes on capital gains and inheritances.

“I’m just going to speak up for what I believe in,” he says. “I’m very conservative.”

Click here for Anton Pearson's campaign Web site.

Mini bio

Name: Anton Pearson.

Office sought: U.S. Senate.

Political party: Republican.

Office salary: $169,300

Age: 64.

Birthdate and place: Dec. 12, 1943, Los Angeles.

Home: St. Regis.

Occupation: Trucker, rancher, land developer.

Family: Wife Rose Anne, three daughters and one son.

Education: Graduate of Conrad High School, 1961; attended Evangel University in Springfield, Mo.

Employment: 2003-present, operates Pearson Trucking, hauling crushed vehicles to steel-recycling sites in Canada and Utah; 1970-present, operates ranch with logging, livestock near St. Regis; 1963-1988, ran logging, ranching operations from property near Corvallis, Ore.; 1980-1982, owned gold mine near Elk City, Idaho.

Military: None.

Political experience: Ran unsuccessfully for Mineral County commissioner in 2000.