MI-07: A Forgotten District We Can Win
Mon Jul 24, 2006 at 01:26:19 PM PDT
(Long time lurker, first time diarist...)
When analyzing vulnerable Congressional districts, Michigan is often ignored, having been gerrymandered out of relevancy by a Republican legislature. When it is mentioned, three districts-- the 8th, the 9th, and the 11th-- are usually listed as the only Democratic pick-up opportunites, and even they are considered longshots. These three races are certainly worth watching, and certainly worth supporting.
But there's another Michigan district that's been all but forgotten. It's a district Democrats should win in, and it's a district Democrats can win in. But for some reason, no one's talking about Michigan's 7th Congressional District.
More in the extended entry.
The Democrat for this race is a man named Fred Strack. I say this despite three others running in the primary, and out of fairness, I'll include links to the other three Democrats' websites at the end of the diary. Strack is the current leader and is my personal choice. His website isn't much yet, but after hearing what he has to say, I'm convinced he's the real deal.
There'll be a lot more about him later, but first, a little bit about the district and its history.
The 7th District contains much of southern Michigan's farm country. As a long-time resident, I can say there's very little that's interesting about the area, but we like it anyway, and it's an important part of the state. It's certainly worth noting, though, that the district contains Jackson, Michigan. Jackson, for those that enjoy history, is often cited as the birthplace of the Republican Party.
The Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6th, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. The name "Republican" was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.
(emphasis added)
Needless to say, this is not something I'm proud of. The Republican Party of 1854 might have been one I could have supported, but today, it has morphed into something which may ruin our nation. But I mention this little piece of history because a victory here could mean more than just one seat. It could be quite the media narrative following widespread Democratic victories, to add that we won the GOP's home district.
Despite it's Republican history, it's not all that conservative of a district. President Clinton won it, and Senator Kerry received 44.9 percent of the vote. Two state Senate seats and three state House seats that are partially or completely in the district are held by Democrats. It's not Massachusetts by any means, but it's certainly not Alabama.
Unfortunately, the 7th Congressional seat has been held by Republicans for some time now. From 1993 to 2005, we were represented by Nick Smith, whose one moment of courage was when he voted against the 2004 Medicare bill, leading to one of Tom DeLay's many ethics violations. Smith, like many long-term incumbents, was challenged every year by a Democratic sacrificial lamb, and, in 2002, won 59.7 percent to 38.6 percent.
Smith chose to retire in 2004, and campaigned for his son Brad for the Republican nomination. It being an open seat, the nomination was a major fight, with six Republicans vying for the spot. In the end, the nomination went to former State Senator Joe Schwarz, who won the primary with an amazing 27.8 percent of the vote.
Schwarz won, in large part, because of a large number of Democrats who crossed over into the GOP primary to support him, the "moderate." (Oddly enough, a similar thing happened in 2000, when Democrats in Michigan voted in the Republican presidential primary for John McCain instead of George W. Bush; Schwarz was McCain's Michigan campaign manager.) But who did the Democrats end up nominating to go against Schwarz? Sharon Renier.
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Sharon Renier, by all accounts, is a nice woman. She's fairly liberal, but that's fine by me. But in 2004, she tried to make a campaign issue out of refusing to raise money for her campaign. The result? The Green Party and Constitution Party candidates raised more money than her, and she received only 36.3 percent of the vote-- less than the 2002 candidate. In an open seat race, this was a pathetic performance by our side.
Which brings us to today. Congressman Joe Schwarz, the moderate that Democrats voted for in 2004, has turned out to be a little less moderate than we thought. While he does have a small amount of independence on issues like stem cell research, for the most part he follows his party. As a recent editorial in the Toledo Blade said:
By any sane measure, the current congressman from Michigan's 7th District, which stretches from Lenawee County to Battle Creek, would be considered a conservative. Rep. John J. "Joe" Schwarz, a Republican from Battle Creek, is a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq. A medical doctor, he had tours of duty in Indochina with both the Navy and the CIA.
A salty, bearlike man and a dedicated railroad buff, Mr. Schwarz opposes gay marriage, and has been heartily endorsed for re-election by both President Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Vice President Dick Cheney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have campaigned for his re-election this year, as has Mr. McCain.
Without a doubt, Schwarz is a friend of the GOP establishment.
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Some conservatives in the district are still disappointed, though, and Schwarz has drawn a primary opponent: Tim Walberg. Walberg is the kind of Republican that opposes things like the income tax or the separation of church and state. According to him, Schwarz is secretly a far-left liberal Democratic activist disguised as a Republican. Oh, and he's got the strong support of the Club for Growth. As much as I wish I could just mock Walberg as the far-right extremist that he is, he actually has a strong chance at winning the nomination. With the Right to Life and Club for Growth endorsements, he's managed to raise a surprisingly strong $581,000 so far. Schwarz still leads the money race overall, but it's rare that a challenger does so well. Whoever wins, he'll be weakened. |
This, it seems, gives the Democrats of this district the "perfect storm" in 2006. We've got a district which went 45 percent for John Kerry. We've got a first-term incumbent who betrayed the moderates and is disliked by his party base, and faces a very strong primary opponent. We've also got a far-right Constitution Party candidate that received three percent of the vote last time, and is running again this year. And we've got a potential nationwide Democratic shift of a few percentage points. The numbers suggest there's an opportunity for the right Democrat.
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That Democrat is Fred Strack. He's a veteran of the United States Navy, having spent several years on a nuclear submarine. Following his military service, he went to college and eventually made his way to Michigan, where he has management experience in the all-important automotive industry. Strack's campaign message centers around the three big issues facing America in 2006-- security, the economy, and corruption. These are areas all Democrats should be ready to talk about, and have been blogged about repeatedly here and elsewhere.
As I said at the top, his website isn't the most impressive at this point, nor is the party or campaign infrastructure. Strack has raised the most money of the Democrats so far, but unfortunately, that isn't saying much... his second quarter FEC report put him at only $6,645 raised and the only Democrat to have reported any contributions. None of the campaigns have taken off yet, being overshadowed by the Republican primary in all the local media. Nevertheless, Fred Strack has been working hard, and Democrats in the district hope to make it quite a fight between now and November.
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In case anyone is wondering, I am not currently employed by or affiliated with Mr. Strack's campaign, but in the future I hope to begin volunteering to help bring about real change for the district and the country.
If you think Fred Strack is worth supporting, or if you think the district is worth fighting for but won't commit yourself before the primary, please consider donating through ActBlue:
Donate to Fred Strack
Donate to ActBlue's General Election Fund
www.VoteStrack.com
Now, out of fairness, the other Democrats:
Daryl Campbell
Chuck Ream
Sharon Renier
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