The fact that Peters is trying to play moderate tells me that they’re concerned about the Levin seat.
I can’t really explain the Hoekstra loss to Stabenow last year aside from the fact that Hoekstra turned to pudding after the primary. Interestingly enough, Stabenow got more votes than Obama.
Hoekstra is not very popular in Michigan. Better than Stabenow but still the elitist choice. Some that voted for Romney could not pull the trigger for Pete.