Well, it was something of a mixed bag in Michigan for the August 3 primary results, with no astounding surprises.
The most high-profile and hotly contested race was in the 7th Congressional District, where Nick "I wuz bribed; oh, no, wasn't bribed" Smith voluntarily term-limited himself into oblivion. The 7th is, like most of West Michigan, safe GOP territory, so this primary is, for all intents and purposes, the general.
Running for the seat were his fundie son, Brad; another local movement conservative, Tim Walberg; a local state rep for whom Bush paid a visit, Clark Bisbee; surgeon/former mayor/state senator Joe Schwarz, who is beyond all else, an admitted moderate.
Too bad for the movement, Junior Smith and Walberg split the fundie vote and Bisbee was not a huge factor. So, as the race developed, the three little fundies took great pains to paint Schwarz as a fiscal liberal and a social communist. The plan, whatever its merits, failed. With an unenrolled electorate in Michigan, it would appear that Schwarz' own base was augmented by Democrats jumping over to the Republican ballot to cast votes for Schwarz, the eventual winner:
Mi - 7:
Schwarz, Joe 20,358 28%
Smith, Brad 16,483 22%
Walberg, Tim 12,872 18%
Bisbee, Clark 10,301 14%
A Schwarz win was as good a result as liberals could have hoped for here. Sacrificial lamb Sharon Renier will face Schwarz in the general.
In two other targeted state house races, conservatives failed to unseat GOP incumbents who failed to vote for the local version of the Hate Amendment. In the state house race for the 63rd Dist, near Kalamazoo, incumbent Rep. Lorence Wenke, withstood a challenge backed by the American Families Association (among others) and defeated his challenger, but not by much. Unofficial totals are as follows:
Mi - 63rd St. House:
Wenke, Lorence 6,118 50%
Vander Roest, Jerry 6,056 50%
A similar situation existed in the 33rd District northeast of Detroit, where incumbent Leon Drolet defeated challenger Marcia Carl 61% to 25%, with the balance to the also-rans.
On the bad side--and this one especially hurts as I got to know Jim personally while working for Dean and as I volunteered time and donated to his campaign--Dean Dozen candidate, James Whitaker lost his primary bid to local real estate broker, Scott Hudson, ending his bid to unseat Republican lemming Fran Amos. The results, a 55%-45% margin, were somewhat encouraging, as this was Jim's first attempt for elected office and he was out spent by a factor of at least 4-1. Had Jim made it and went on to defeat Amos, he would have been my state rep., so the defeat was, as I said, more than a little sour.
In other news, transgendered candidate Melissa Sue Robinson (f/k/a Charles Staelens, Jr.) lost her bid for a state house seat in the 68th Dist, near Lansing. Suffice it to say that the results were not close, as some wonder about the propriety of her appearing on the ballot as "Melissa Sue Robinson, f/k/a Charles Staelens, Jr."
John Ramsey, father of murdered JonBenet Ramsey, lost in his bid for a state House seat. Ramsey placed second of six candidates in the Republican primary in rural northern Michigan. He had 4,684 votes (24%), to attorney Kevin Elsenheimer's 27 percent of the vote.
Currently, the GOP enjoys a 63-46 seat edge in the state house, and it is uncertain if either party will dramatically improve its numbers in November.
The city of Detroit approved the use of medical marijuana, in what was seen as a largely symbolic referendum.
On the bright side, I did win my race for precinct delegate (in spite of the fact that through a sudden bout of teen brain burping, my own daughter neglected to vote for me), and from what other results were available, I know of at least a dozen other former staff and volunteers to the Dean campaign who won their races, as well.
The saddest news of the day was, of course, that only 16% of registered voters bothered to show up.