Tag: Clark Durant

Michigan Senate Results: County Map

This race was sadly reminiscent of the 2006 senate race. Back then, Keith Butler was recruited to run.  After running for a while, someone in Washington recruited Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard to run.  Jerry Zandstra also jumped in, though he was eventually disqualified for not getting enough signatures.  The primary absorbed money and time that could better have gone into other races.  Bouchard won, but he had trouble raising enough money to be competitive.  He ran a lackluster campaign and failed to take the conservative position on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.  He lost 41.3%-56.9%.

OK maybe a lot.

Gary Glenn announced last night that he would withdraw from the race and endorse charter school founder Clark Durant.  Citing Hoekstra's voting record, Hoekstra's record on right to work, and the ability for Durant to reach out across lines to a greater base in the general, Glenn made it clear Hoekstra was not the best choice to oppose Debbie in November:

"To help save our country from the brink of bankruptcy, our highest priority must be defeating big-spending liberals like Debbie Stabenow.  I've grown more convinced over the course of this campaign that because of the obvious vulnerability of his own big-bailout, big-debt, big-spending record, nine-term Congressman Pete Hoekstra can't beat Stabenow."

"Since Pete Hoekstra can't beat Debbie Stabenow, my sense of duty requires me to step aside and assist the conservative candidate whose broad and growing range of support from all corners, financially and otherwise, makes him clearly more likely to defeat Congressman Hoekstra in August so we have a chance to defeat Sen. Stabenow in November. That's clearly Clark Durant."

A point man who had passed Right-To-Work in Idaho along with Charlton Heston, Glenn made specific reference to a comfortable relationship with Jimmy Hoffa JR by Hoekstra.  That comfortable relationship insinuated along with a record of Hoekstra opposing RTW.

More than 40 tea party groups throughout Michigan had recently selected Glenn as their preferred candidate through the Michigan For Conservative Senate campaign. Glenn was identified through a series of debates and events as the most conservative,  yet the cost of a statewide campaign proved to be too much in the end.  Hoekstra's visible absence from most of the events where the other candidates attended will likely mean those groups break for Durant or Hekman, rather than the man who seemingly didn't consider their effort to be worth his time.

Durant was well received in those events as well making him a likely favorite for their efforts going forward.  Randy Hekman may receive considerable support as well, given his recent endorsement by tea party favorite Dave Agema, who recently defeated Saul Anuzis for Republican National Committeeman.  Anuzis, an NPV supporter backs Durant.

I don't doubt the ability of the tea movement to shoulder once again, a myriad collection of RINOs, power hungry moderates, and mislabeled Republicans this election.  I expect them to once again carry across the finish line, the standard bearers of establishment elitism and compromise. But there is something else that we will see.

They will have replaced a few of those along the way.

And it starts with the victory of Richard Mourdock over Richard Lugar in the Indiana Republican US Senate primary.  Tea party grass roots ultimately helped by favorites such as Palin, and Club for growth, to overcome the entrenched RNC financed defense of "Obama's favorite Republican" made the Bob Bennett loss of a couple years ago more real.  It took it from fluke status to a legitimate answer for politicians who pander too far over to the left for their own good.

Fair play,and a good game.  Play to win, and when we don't, we plod forward to the next election.

Former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz on Friday sharply criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, defending the rescue of GM and Chrysler as a "necessary government intervention."

Rest here

"The Tea Party conservatives have been increasingly supporting Pete Hoekstra over the years as a result of his staunch fiscal policies in Congress," Cain said in a statement to the paper.

If that statement is true, it's disgusting.  Cain is either ignorant about the Party power brokers in play in Michigan in general, or as I suspect, merely playing the old political payola game for other obvious agendas.  Either way, no plausible excuse is acceptable anymore.

Several questions were asked, but one that stood out as an interesting contrast point, was the question on the 17th amendment.  Most readers understand the 17th amendment was the point which state's rights were severely hobbled.  I have supported the repeal of the 17th amendment since learning the reasons for which the founders had purposefully avoided it.  Of course I was never exposed to such radical ideas in public school, so it was full blown adulthood, and fighting off the years of indoctrination which provided a sense of truth how this country was meant to be.

The Mi4CS (Michigan 4 Conservative Senate) vetting questionnaire asked:

"Do you believe the Framers were in error in providing for the election of Senators by the State Legislatures and if so do you believe the 17th Amendment, (ratified during the Wilson administration), is the proper solution. Would you introduce/support a repeal of the 17th Amendment?"

The 5 participating candidates had an interesting array of answers. While I would vote for ANY of these distinguished gentlemen over the meat puppet Debbie Stabenow, I was not enthusiastic about a couple of views.  I WAS intrigued by the thought process which went into each however.  Well done.

The debate was lively and each candidate did well enough, but each of them would also be hoping to have earned the straw poll top result afterward.  That result will be announced later by the MI4CS.