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DOWN THE HOMESTRETCH: MICHIGAN'S NINTH DISTRICT
Wall Street Journal Blogs
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/03/dow n-the-homestretch-michigans-ninth-district-gop-inc umbent/
Nov 3 2008
NY
Washington Wire takes a look at what's at stake in key House races.
Easha Anand reports on the 2008 elections.
The Situation: Sen. John McCain's announcement that he was pulling
out of Michigan evoked some grousing from running mate Gov. Sarah
Palin. But her disappointment was nothing compared to that of
endangered incumbent Rep. Joe Knollenberg, who wrote to the Republican
vice-presidential candidate, begging her to join him on the campaign
trail. "As you know, I have a tight race of my own, but my message
is resonating well," Knollenberg wrote. "I think you'd be a perfect
compliment to it." That didn't happen.
The Republican: Rep. Joe Knollenberg has recently taken pains to
distance himself from the Republican Party, going so far as to skip
the GOP convention. He first ran in 1992 and until 2006 easily
won re-election. But last cycle, talk radio host Nancy Skinner
nearly ousted him. Knollenberg's image took a beating when a clip
of a Knollenberg staffer blowing a gasket at an antiwar protester
surfaced on YouTube. More recently, Knollenberg switched votes on
the $700 billion bailout bill, voting against the first and for the
second version of the bill, and brokered a bailout for Detroit auto
executives.
The Democrat: State Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters says he was all
set to be a part-time professor at Central Michigan University when the
incompetence of President George W. Bush and Rep. Knollenberg dragged
him back into politics. Though he's underperforming Knollenberg in
fund-raising-$1.9 million to $3.1 million at last count, not counting
ad buys for Knollenberg by groups such as the National Realtors PAC --
Peters, a former Navy reservist, has benefited from Sen. Barack Obama's
extensive ground game, particularly now that the GOP presidential
candidate has left the state.
The District: Michigan's 9th District covers the white-collar, wealthy
suburbs north of Detroit. Though its boundaries have frequently
changed, it has sent a Republican to Congress for decades. President
George W. Bush won the district with a 51-49 margin in 2004, and 51-47
in 2000. An unknown factor is the impact of the Armenian vote: The
district's 4,000 Armenians will likely be torn between Knollenberg's
staunch support for recognizing the Armenian genocide and their
dislike of McCain's indifference to Armenian issues.
The Outlook: Michigan's economy has been in a long recession and
voters clearly seem to be looking for change. Though Knollenberg has
out raised Peters, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
has put up a fight in this district, while the National Republican
Congressional Committee pulled the plug on several weeks of advertising
for Knollenberg.
Trivia: Jack Kevorkian, the assisted suicide advocate who claimed
to have helped 130 terminally ill patients die, got the signatures
necessary to get himself onto the ballot as an independent.
Wall Street Journal Blogs
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/03/dow n-the-homestretch-michigans-ninth-district-gop-inc umbent/
Nov 3 2008
NY
Washington Wire takes a look at what's at stake in key House races.
Easha Anand reports on the 2008 elections.
The Situation: Sen. John McCain's announcement that he was pulling
out of Michigan evoked some grousing from running mate Gov. Sarah
Palin. But her disappointment was nothing compared to that of
endangered incumbent Rep. Joe Knollenberg, who wrote to the Republican
vice-presidential candidate, begging her to join him on the campaign
trail. "As you know, I have a tight race of my own, but my message
is resonating well," Knollenberg wrote. "I think you'd be a perfect
compliment to it." That didn't happen.
The Republican: Rep. Joe Knollenberg has recently taken pains to
distance himself from the Republican Party, going so far as to skip
the GOP convention. He first ran in 1992 and until 2006 easily
won re-election. But last cycle, talk radio host Nancy Skinner
nearly ousted him. Knollenberg's image took a beating when a clip
of a Knollenberg staffer blowing a gasket at an antiwar protester
surfaced on YouTube. More recently, Knollenberg switched votes on
the $700 billion bailout bill, voting against the first and for the
second version of the bill, and brokered a bailout for Detroit auto
executives.
The Democrat: State Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters says he was all
set to be a part-time professor at Central Michigan University when the
incompetence of President George W. Bush and Rep. Knollenberg dragged
him back into politics. Though he's underperforming Knollenberg in
fund-raising-$1.9 million to $3.1 million at last count, not counting
ad buys for Knollenberg by groups such as the National Realtors PAC --
Peters, a former Navy reservist, has benefited from Sen. Barack Obama's
extensive ground game, particularly now that the GOP presidential
candidate has left the state.
The District: Michigan's 9th District covers the white-collar, wealthy
suburbs north of Detroit. Though its boundaries have frequently
changed, it has sent a Republican to Congress for decades. President
George W. Bush won the district with a 51-49 margin in 2004, and 51-47
in 2000. An unknown factor is the impact of the Armenian vote: The
district's 4,000 Armenians will likely be torn between Knollenberg's
staunch support for recognizing the Armenian genocide and their
dislike of McCain's indifference to Armenian issues.
The Outlook: Michigan's economy has been in a long recession and
voters clearly seem to be looking for change. Though Knollenberg has
out raised Peters, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
has put up a fight in this district, while the National Republican
Congressional Committee pulled the plug on several weeks of advertising
for Knollenberg.
Trivia: Jack Kevorkian, the assisted suicide advocate who claimed
to have helped 130 terminally ill patients die, got the signatures
necessary to get himself onto the ballot as an independent.