Scott Kleeb, a former DODDS student in Vicenza, is running as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska. ()

A candidate who hopes to join one of the most exclusive groups in America — the U.S. Senate — next month learned about government while attending the military-sponsored schools system in Europe.

Scott Kleeb, running as the Democratic candidate to fill a vacant seat in Nebraska, spent his elementary and high school years in Vicenza, Italy, where his parents were teachers in the Department of Defense Dependent Schools system.

In a telephone interview Friday, he said he didn’t know if he’d be where he is today if circumstances had been different.

"The DODDS school system provides one of the best educations of any system in the United States," said Kleeb, who went on to the University of Colorado and later attained a doctorate in history from Yale University.

Kleeb said growing up in a military community taught him not only to appreciate the contributions that servicemembers make, but also the United States’ role around the world.

He has an uphill battle to win Chuck Hagel’s vacated seat in Nebraska, though.

The state traditionally votes Republican and his opponent is Mike Johanns, a former state governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Kleeb took about 70 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in May, but about 50,000 more Republicans turned out to vote in their primary.

"I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think we had a chance," said Kleeb, who is married to Jane Fleming, executive director of the Young Voter Political Action Committee and a frequent contributor on cable news programs.