John Hagan, candidate for the 8th New York State Senatorial District, knows that as a liberal running on the Democratic line in a district that is a Republican stronghold, his chances of winning aren't great. But according to Hagan, who has been a third-party candidate in approximately 20 political races, no matter what the outcome, he sees the campaign as an opportunity to be a voice for the Liberal Party and a chance to offer some philosophical balance to the people of the district.

Hagan, a retired senior citizen is challenging Senator Charles Fuschillo, who replaced the late Senator Norman Levy earlier this year. Seventy-three-year-old Hagan said he thinks he would bring a "special expertise" to the legislature.

Hagan, a veteran of WWII, has lived in Merrick, for the last 19 years. Benefitting from an early retirement program, Hagan left his position as a Bronx elementary school principal in 1955. The Bronx native said he was also one of the founding members of the United Federation of Teachers. His community involvement included being a member of the Bronx Community Planning Board and chairman of the board of a daycare center in the North Bronx.

He began running for office in 1960 when he ran for a New York City congressional seat. Hagan said he received an endorsement from The New York Times which he considered to be a fairly large feather in his cap. His last run was against Levy for the seat he is currently running for.

Having never won an election, Hagan said he considers himself a statesman. "If you don't win, you're not a politician," he said.

Hagan, a father of seven, said children and senior citizens would be major beneficiaries of his tenure in office if he were to be elected. He said considering that Long Islanders pay a great deal in school taxes and people are very concerned with the education of their children, it makes sense that it would be a main point of interest for him. He said he would also be interested in addressing the changing needs of seniors including health insurance issues and developing programs to help seniors stay in their homes as opposed to going into nursing homes. Judging from Fuschillo's voting record, Hagan said he believes he would be a stronger advocate for seniors than his opponent. He added, "The whole Democratic and Liberal philosphy is a more helpful one to senior citizens."

But he is also drawn to running for office because of his concerns regarding the district's Republican stronghold.

"Whenever you have a legislative body that is overwhelmingly one party, that is not good. You should have what I call a loyal opposition," he said. "But where there is no opposition, it raises the question could it be done cheaper or could it be done in a different, better way."

Still, he believes that liberalism needs to adjust to the times. "Many programs set up to help people have become, somebody used the word, fossilized," said Hagan, adding that programs developed during the Depression need to be revised to suit current needs. He said many Liberal objectives were conceived with "a good heart but not a good head."

For example, he said child protective services has become bogged down by bureaucracy and he added that this is a fact made evident by the many news reports of abused children forgotten by the system. He also points to social welfare as an example of what needs to be fixed. While welfare was started with good intentions, he said, its effects are destructive to many as generation after generation of children are raised seeing welfare as the only way to get by.

Hagan said while he believes that the push to get welfare recipients back in the workforce is a positive change, he is concerned that the jobs people are trained for are often too low paying to support a family. Pointing out that single mothers often have the additional expense of finding child care, he said people should have the opportunity to be trained for higher paying jobs such as in construction, adding that not all construction jobs require great strength. Hagan said that people can begin as apprentices in fields such as construction or child care with the potential to move up to higher paying positions.

Hagan promotes a kind of community collaboration where working parents can network to fulfill their needs. While one working mother may not have a car to drive her child to work, another mother may have a station wagon which she can use to drive several neighborhood children to school. According to Hagan, that mother then has the potential to parlay her car pooling experience into a transportation business.

Seeming to have a soft spot for working moms, Hagan said governing bodies need to keep in mind the type of people it is serving today.

"So often the single mother is trying to do an awful lot of juggling," he said. "They're going to work, they have to worry about child care, they have to worry, often, about deadbeat dads. So liberalism needs to adjust to that."

A Bronx native, a retired educator and a liberal with a lifelong interest in politics, Hagan hopes to give the district's residents both an alternative choice and the opportunity to hear a different perspective.

"People should not run unopposed . . . It's not healthy for a democracy," he said. He added that he likes to run for office in a heavily Republican district and thinks a voice for Liberal philosophy is called for.

But he isn't under the impression that he will be uprooting the incumbent come the Nov. 3 election.

"I think people in the third party are always looking for a respectable showing," he said. " They're hoping to have a respectable forum for what they believe in."

Still, he's confident that he would have a great deal to offer if elected. Hagan said that both his background as an educator and the fact that he is retired are advantages. Considering the high percentage of lawyers in the Legislature, he said it would benefit constituents to have a Senator with a background other than law.

Being retired, he added, would give him the ability to work at the job full time.

"In a place like New York state, with so many problems, I think having a full-time person is an advantage. You can spend time both in the community and in Albany," he said.