MILWAUKEE — Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson formally entered the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate this morning – his first attempt at any elected office – saying he was inspired to run in an effort to stop national health care.

“To me, nationalized health care is a real assault on our freedom,” Johnson said at a Milwaukee news conference, surrounded by family.

Without a free market system, he said, “We won’t have the advances in medicine that we have had in the past; we won’t have the advances in life-saving drugs. To me, that was the real trigger.”