Posted on 08/04/2010 10:39:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Michigan held its primaries yesterday, and one Congressional seat in particular turned into a nailbiter for the Republicans. Bart Stupak (D) retired after managing to anger everyone in his district by flip-flopping on ObamaCare and abortion, and the GOP hoped to turn this R+3 district into a pickup. Unfortunately for the GOP, the race turned into a dead heat, for practical purposes (h/t HipEChik on Twitter):
Crystal Falls physician Dan Benishek held a paper-thin lead early today over state Sen. Jason Allen in the Republican nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak in Michigan’s 1st Congressional District.
With 99 percent of the vote counted, Benishek led Allen by 39 votes, 27,097 to 27,058. Two precincts in Bay County had yet to report vote totals by 1 a.m.
That was at 1 AM. As of 7 am, the race looked a lot closer — with Benishek leading by a single vote, 27,091 to 27,090. That means that the state will almost certainly have to hold a recount, if these vote totals remain in place. Allen could concede, but with a single vote’s difference, he’ll at least want to step through a recalculation of precinct totals to double-check the math (which has been known to uncover simple arithmetic errors).
The photo finish will keep Republicans tied up while the Democrat, state Representative Gary McDowell, proceeds with his campaign. Hopefully, that will only mean a delay of a few days, but if either candidate decides to challenge for a recount and keep pressing, it could take the GOP out of the game in the Upper Peninsula for a few precious weeks.
McDowell shouldn’t count his chickens too early, however. Republicans won the turnout battle in MI-01 by more than 2-1 despite Michigan having its constitutional officers on the ticket. That portends a big GOP turnout in the general election in this district, and a big advantage to whichever Republican eventually wins the nomination.
The big lesson: Don’t ever let anyone convince you that a single vote doesn’t count.
This is ALREADY A VICTORY for the TEA party
The GOP establishment candidates WILL NOT win in in a walk... They had better start listening to us and GET RID OF RINO’S
Can any FReeper Yoopers give the rest of us a quick comparison of the two tied Pubbies?
Thanks in advance.
I’m surprised that this wasn’t a slam dunk win for Dan Benishek.
No it isn’t.. Yes they may have won the Primary, but now they have to win the big one.. If they do yes that is a victory...
54,000+ R-voters went to the polls for a primary in a district that covers a large area but is sparsely populated. What’s the district’s total population and can we find our how many are registered Pubbies?
Id like to look at the percentages to determine if this foretells a larger turn-out in November (when most of the district will have snow on the ground).
Not a Yooper, but I have seen that Dr. Benishek is a conservative. Allen has ties to the SEIU and ACORN that are, to say the least, disturbing.
Allen does not have “ties to SEIU and ACORN.” His wife was Paul Hillegonds’ Chief of Staff when they took control of the Michigan House for the first time in over 30 years in a conservative revolution. She was then Chief of Staff to Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, another staunch conservative.
Jason Allen is a conservative, and is solidly pro-life. This other junk is being put out by shills for Benishek.
Allen was a term limited carpet bagger. He did vote to unionize home care health workers without their knowledge which put a pile of money in the union’s pocket. I do not know if he got SEIU money but it can be checked on.
I think this is BAD for Liberals.
A Congressman who’s been in their pocket for years is now gone and the seat overall is now “in play”.
Am interested in same question for same “projection” to November. Even without demographics on population or number of registered Pubbies, it looks pretty healthy at 54 thousand.
Despite taking it in the rear in the governor’s race, Michgan has done some good for the nation with many of our nominees. We even picked up the 65th district michigan house seat last night.
Walberg should coast to a fairly easy win in the 7th district, Steele will face Dingell, and I suspect Benishk will win the nomination for the first district.
Feel free to donate to the michigan conservatives, we can use all the help we can get.
appears to be one of those “ask and ye shall receive” moments we occasionally get here on FR
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2564588/posts
We had two to one Republicans in Delta Township. Here is another site about Allen
http://www.purplepeoplebeaters.com/?p=408
In yesterday’s GOP Primaries, Michigan and Kansas both elected Moderates for the Fall Election.
Ref. my Post #16: Both will represent the GOP in the States’ Governor’s races.
I was going to correct you.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if more democrats than republicans voted for Snyder in Michigan. There was no real incentive for them to vote for either democrat candidate because they’re both socialists. I know several of my liberal relatives voted for snyder.
In the 7th district we voted heavily for Tim Walberg who is about as socialy and fiscally conservative as they come, yet this district also voted for snyder. In fact most of the races in Michigan took a conservative turn.
That’s like voting for Ronald Reagan and Obama on the same ticket.
I will say that Snyder ran a pretty deceptive campaign. I know a few FReepers bought into his tough nerd crap. Some said they would vote for him based on the fact that he isn’t an attorney which is exactly what he is.
Then the overcrowded race has to be factored in as well.
Special ping for you, our resident “Dame on the Ground” in the 1st. A lot of questions about the district.
If you would like to be added or dropped from the Michigan ping list, please freepmail me.
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