Although it is expected that Debbie Stabenow (D) will retain her senate seat for the State of Michigan, poll numbers show her lead slightly narrowing. Last week, EPIC-MRA surveyed 600 voters for The Detroit News and four television stations. Incumbent Stabenow's lead over Republican challenger Mike Bouchard (R) fell from 53-34 to 48-35.
Democratic Incumbent Debbie Stabenow was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 where she served two terms before defeating Spence Abraham (R) in the U.S. Senate Race. Among other things, Stabenow is known for ending Canadian municipal solid waste shipments into the State of Michigan, a seemingly never-ending problem for the residents of Michigan. A three-year battle resulted in the Stabenow-Levin Agreement which calls for an immediate 20% reduction in the waste shipments and a 100% elimination of the shipments in four years.
A homegrown resident of Michigan, Stabenow led efforts to pass a $2 billion tax cut for manufacturers who create jobs in the United States, rather than outsource them. She helped stop the Bush Administration's effort to double prescription drug co-pays for over 37,000 Michigan veterans and authored the first federal ban on drilling for oil and gas in the Great Lakes. To reduce dependence on foreign oil, Stabenow successfully fought for tax incentives to develop alternative fuels, including ethanol for Michigan crops. Read more about Debbie Stabenow here.
Mike Bouchard (R) lives in Birmingham, MI and has been the sheriff of Oakland County since 1999. He served in the Michigan Senate after one year in the House of Representatives and was a police officer prior to that. Bouchard is a law enforcement veteran who was reportedly persuaded to enter the U.S. Senate race by Elizabeth Dole.
One of Bouchard's main campaign issues is stopping online sexual predators. If elected, he would focus on the National Sex Offenders Database to keep predators out of schools. Coincidentally, Stabenow has been a staunch fighter against child pornography and internet safety herself, and co-authored the Lincoln-Stabenow Internet Safety and Protection Act of 2005. You can read the entire act here, via the Library of Congress.
Recently, Bouchard has enlisted the help of such Republican heavy hitters as Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The help arrives on the heels of Bouchard's u-haul campaign trip across the state which was touted as too "gimmicky" an appeal for votes with regard to the seriousness of keeping jobs in Michigan. He also sent a volunteer dressed up as a chicken to the home of Debbie Stabenow.
The u-haul trip could have been an effort to downplay the results of a report released in September that says as many as 29,000 new jobs would be created by alternative energy legislation sponsored by Stabenow known as the Clean EDGE Act (S. 2829). You can view the report here.
The two candidates are scheduled to debate on October 15 during a WGVU morning taping. The debate will be broadcast on public television that Sunday evening (check your local listing for the exact time).
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Comments: 3
Plus abusers (domestic and child) having the ability to enter a school because the flawed registry in another issue.
I want someone that won't cut and run, and won't keep putting blame where it doesn't belong for there own screw ups and that's an "AMERICAN" that "CARES" about the Great Lakes. Ballast dumping has been on the boards for Democrat leaders in Michigan......Funding in the DNR was drastically dropped??? Now invasive species ARE in our water ways because there are liars and thieves in Michigan's office!
In the Michigan gubernatorial race both candidates, incumbent Granholm (D) and DeVos (R) are talking jobs. It's interesting to note, however, that DeVos - a businessman - was successful in getting tax breaks as a subsidy for Amway and its parent, Alticor, while he was president [at Amway] from 1993 - 2002. Alticor cut jobs and invested overseas while enjoying a savings of $19 million in tax breaks ala DeVos. Was that supposed to be good for the job market in Michigan?