He is already using this idea in his campaign. While it is hard to find a political candidate without an Internet site, Ashdown's has chats, or online discussions, in which people can ask him questions. He is also using a Wikipedia or online encyclopedia so readers can offer suggestions as to where he should stand on certain issues. According to the Wiki site, when he feels a "good conclusion has been reached" he adds it to his main campaign Internet site.

If elected, he would publish a daily schedule so constituents would know with whom he had meetings or appointments. He said there is a lack of accountability now regarding which lawmakers actually write legislation.

"I believe that accountability and transparency are absolutely critical," Ashdown said.

At XMission, he sends subscribers a newsletter pointing out successes and failures so they have a complete history of the company's good and bad times. He would like to do something similar in office.

Although he is running as a Democrat, he said he is a "Utahn first, an American second and a Democrat third." He said he is "not buddies with Harry Reid," the Senate's Democratic leader from Nevada, and that he wants to develop his own style of leadership to fill a role for Utah in Washington. On his campaign Web site, he said "both major parties have plenty to be ashamed of" and he would prefer not having a party system at all.

"I believe it prevents representatives from acting and thinking for their constituents' best interests," Ashdown said.

Owning XMission not only allowed him to learn all there is about the latest in Internet development and provided the flexibility to take the time needed to campaign, he said, but his business background also has educated him in a variety of issues that Congress handles.

As a small-business owner, he said, he understands a variety of topics from health care and energy costs to wages and tax issues.

"It's hard to run a small business without being fiscally conservative," Ashdown said.

He started XMission in 1993. He knew there was going to be great demand for personal Internet connections. He began using the Internet in 1987. He has no MBA but came to the business from a technology background. He has an associate's degree from Salt Lake Community College and started studying film at the University of Utah but eventually moved on to computer science.

He worked a local computer graphics office for Evans & Sutherland until 1994, when XMission was successful enough for him to match his salary there.

Ashdown was born in Utah, but his family's genealogy has been traced back to the original Pilgrims who settled the Plymouth Rock colony, he said. He attended Leo J. Muir Elementary School and South Davis Junior High School and graduated from Woods Cross High School in 1985.

He married his wife, Robin, in 1998. She already had a daughter, and the couple has since added two more children to their family.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com