ESCONDIDO -- Democrat Francine Busby laid out the differences between herself and her opponent, Republican Brian Bilbray, Tuesday in her continuing bid for the 50th Congressional District seat.

The candidate spoke Tuesday on a wide range of topics from illegal immigration to campaign finance reform during a meeting with editors of the North County Times.

Busby, a Cardiff school board member and former teacher, is campaigning as a Washington outsider who wants to reform what she says is a corrupt campaign financing system. She said her opponent was a part of that system.

"What the voters here have is a very clear choice between someone who has a been part of the system and someone who hasn't," Busby said.

Bilbray, a former congressman who served the 49th Congressional District from 1995 to 2001, dismissed Busby's comment, saying that she is attacking him to mask her inexperience.

"Ms. Busby doesn't have a record, so her handlers have told her she has to attack me," he said in a phone interview.

Both candidates are hoping to capture the congressional seat left vacant by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned last year after pleading guilty in federal court to income tax evasion and taking more than $2.4 million in bribes. Cunningham, who served the district stretching from Escondido to Del Mar, is serving a sentence of more than eight years in federal prison.

Busby and Bilbray are in a fight to fill Cunningham's seat for the remainder of the current term, which ends in December, and to nab the job for the next two-year term, which begins in January. The two will face off June 6, when voters will decide who fills the seat until the end of the year. The primary election to determine candidates for the November election to fill the next term will also be held June 6.

During Tuesday's discussion, Busby said she would use her election as a springboard for a national effort to curb what she says is undue influence by lobbyists and special interests.

"If I win this in June, will have a national platform for my message that we need to clean house and put a firewall between lobbyists and legislators when it comes to conflict-of-interest issues," she said, speaking of her proposal, the Change Legislative Ethics and Attitudes Now House Act.

"In the next six months between June and November, I will be going across this country asking candidates to sign on to a CLEAN House Act, so that their constituents will have the choice of voting for more of the same or voting for change," she said.

On the topic of illegal immigration, Busby said she would support a bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the country legally. It would allow immigrants living in the country illegally to pay a $2,000 fine and get temporary work visas after criminal background checks.

"It is not amnesty, it does not qualify them for citizenship, but it will give them the opportunity to stay here and work," she said.

Busby said she also supports increasing border enforcement, but not in the form of a 700-mile border fence that some members of Congress have proposed. She said she would push for an electronic surveillance system that would warn immigration enforcement agents when illegal immigrants cross the border.

Her opponent has been an outspoken critic of illegal immigration who supports the border fence and tougher immigration enforcement measures.

Busby also talked Tuesday about her views on a number of different issues:

- On gasoline prices, she said would support congressional investigations to see if there has been price gauging at the pump or antitrust violations by big oil companies. She also would encourage the use of alternative fuels and stricter fuel efficiency standards for vehicles. She said she would not support a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

- On the Iraq war, she said the country needs to set benchmarks to determine when to start drawing down troops. The goal should be to have a functioning government in Iraq, she said.

- On tax cuts, she said she would support repealing the estate or inheritance tax. A 2001 law gradually increased the amount of inheritance that can be exempted from tax, while also gradually decreasing the top tax rate. She said tax cuts need to be reconsidered within the context of balancing the federal budget.

- On health care, she said would support tax credits for small businesses that provide health insurance for their employees.

- On minimum wage, she said she would support an increase in the federal minimum pay.