Posted on 05/12/2005 1:20:27 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Mike Cox endorses Keith Butler for U.S. Senate
5/12/2005, 1:46 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Keith Butler got a major endorsement in his run for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination when Attorney General Mike Cox announced Thursday that he backed the Southfield minister.
Butler, 49, is one of several Republicans hoping to take on Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing in 2006.
Cox said he's backing Butler because he would be a strong and effective advocate for Michigan.
"He has made a difference because he's a man of principle, a man of honor," said Cox, one of two Republicans to hold statewide office in Michigan. "He has the guts to win."
Butler and Cox said it will likely cost between $18 million and $20 million to win the Senate race, which is one of the reasons why the attorney general said he endorsed Butler early.
"You have to be out right now ... raising money and meeting with people," Cox said.
Butler, the founding pastor and bishop of the 21,000-member nondenominational Word of Faith International Christian Center Church in Southfield, hopes to build on his roots in the state GOP and in Detroit politics to pull together a winning coalition against the first-term senator.
Troy industrial engineer Bart Baron also is seeking the GOP nomination. Jane Abraham, a former Michigan GOP political director who's married to former U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, is considering getting into the race, and Domino's Pizza Inc. executive David Brandon also is weighing a run.
Can we borrow him to run against Herb Kohl here in WI next year?
Is Butler conservative?
I really hope that we can win a seat in Michigan and get rid of Stabenow.
Agreed! The last good Senator from Michigan was Robert Griffen
You can have Jane Abraham.
Wow. That's one hell of a candidate for this race. A popular black minister? Damn. I hope he brings the wrath of God on Debbie.
LOL. They certainly can.......
I'll be sending money to truly conservative candidates via the Club for Growth.
By the way, your handle sounds familiar. Were you posting in one of the CompuServe political forums in the mid-late-90s?
I wish I could vote for him, but i don't live in Michigan. Conservative truly born again man of God!
I'm probably going to vote for him. Of the possible candidates mentioned so far (Abraham, Butler, Nassar Beydoun, Baron, Brandon), it's a very easy decision for me to make.
He sounds very conservative from the times I've heard him speak, and he's also won in Detroit.
Butler actually won a seat on the Detroit City Council about 10 years ago...as a Republican.
BTW, I was at the Holland Tulip Festival parade yesterday. (homeschool field trip for the kids, I didn't go by choice)
Jenny Grandstand was at the head of the parade walking right behind a huge banner with her name on it. She was roundly ignored by the entire crowd. Behind her group was a National Guard contingent in a Armored Personnel Carrier. These soldiers drew hearty applause, as did the VFW.
Grandstand actually went to Holland?
Indeed she was. She learned in '03 that ignoring Tulip Time would kill her chances in West Michigan.
MGY
Thanks. Here is a link to a video of the announcment of his candidacy (with an intro by Mike Cox). Click on the link below, then click on View Now.
http://www.keithabutler.com/kabtour.html
I was at the Lansing announcement. Thanks for posting the video for those that missed them.
Butler sounds terrific. If we all get behind him as Cox just did, he can get a jump now. Even though I live in this liberal cesspool called Illinois, I just donated $100.00 to his campaign. Gotta support good GOP Senate candidates NOW!
Illinois is another world. I actually had to vote for the democrat in the 1998 governor election when I lived in DeKalb, because he was better on guns and was pro-life.
You wrote:
"I'm probably going to vote for him. Of the possible candidates mentioned so far (Abraham, Butler, Nassar Beydoun, Baron, Brandon), it's a very easy decision for me to make. "
Me too, so far. Two votes from West Michigan.
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