The Republican base in Upper Michigan is fired up and highly motivated. The leading Republican candidate for the nomination is Dr. Benishek of Crystal Falls.
"As of Tuesday evening, Benishek had raised more than $125,000 in online donations through his revamped campaign website. Before the March 21 vote, Benishek had only a shoestring campaign anchored by his wife and a dozen or so volunteers with only $10,000 in the bank. The Sunday night of the vote, nearly $20,000 in online donations flooded in, and he says the money hasn’t stopped yet.
"He handed me a gift," Benishek said of Stupak’s switch to yes. "The phone really hasn’t stopped ringing." He still hopes to make reach his goal of $219,000 before the first quarter filing ends at midnight — $1,000 for each yes vote on the bill."
http://www.politico.com/...
Dr. Benishek also said in another article that he is already receiving advice and assistance from the RNC.
Stupak's main threat is not Connie Saltonstall but Dr. Benishek. My hunch is that Stupak will still prevail in the fall. Not by the usual double digit margins he has accomplished in the past but as Stupak has the support of the unions and his record on gun issues is at least the equal as most any Republican in this district, he should still retain the seat. Stupak started out this quarter with about $270,000.00 on hand and because he works the district hard and been in office for almost two decades, he has a large network of supporters in place.
Connie Saltonstall faces serious challenges in her bid to represent the district. Some caused by her own doing. Her main support is coming from organizations that have little influence in the district and running as a progressive in a district described as conservative makes her task harder. Another indication of a problem is that she just recently hired a campaign manager even though she announced her candidacy over three weeks ago and her website, besides a brief bio, says little more then "I'm really, really pissed off at Bart Stupak!". Other then health care and abortion, Connie doesn't explain her positions on jobs, guns, hunters rights, the environment or any other issue.
Here at Daily Kos, I've read some posts somewhat critical of Connie in regards to the time she's taking to get her campaign together and for her bare bones website which doesn't even give info as to where and when potential supports could meet her at upcoming events. Not long ago, I read a post at FireDogLake which said that one reason Connie got beat so badly in her 2008 race for the 105th state house seat was that she didn't work hard at it. She sent out fliers but didn't do the door to door stuff. This may be true or it may be bullshit as I haven't found any other sources which either corroborates that or debunks it. However, as Dr. Benishek has already surpassed Connie in campaign organization, fund-raising and website development in far less time, there may be some truth to it.