Bye, Mike
Mike Rogers, a seven-term Congressman from Michigan’s 8th Congressional District is stepping down this year. He will join Rush Limbaugh, Mike Huckabee, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage on right wing radio with a show on the Cumulus radio network.
Comically, Rogers told reporters:
I believe in being a conservative media you have to move the ball forward. That voice is missing.
Yeah, if there is one thing we lack in this country it’s a voice for right wing conservatives on the radio.
The good news is that Joe Hune, currently a state senator, may run for Rogers’ seat. If that happens, I might not end up with him as MY senator after November. With any luck, Democrat Shari Pollesch, who is already campaigning hard in the 22nd state senate district, will win. Much depends on who replaces Hune on the ticket if he decides to run for Congress.
The other good news is that the 8th District could potentially be a Democratic pick-up. The district includes much of Lansing and all of East Lansing, both of which have a strong Democratic base. With Rogers’ incumbency and his chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, Dems seemed to have all but given up winning this seat for a long time. If they put up a solid candidate like Barb Byrum or former East Lansing mayor Sam Singh or Mark Meadows, Democrats could potentially win the seat back.
Things just got very interesting.
Adding… This is a bit of a jerk move by Mike Rogers, bowing out this late in the game. The deadline for filing 1,000 signatures to get on the primary ballot is April 22nd, just over three weeks from now. In addition to being required to get on the ballot, the signature gathering process allows the candiate to (a) gather emails and addresses of supporters and to (b) show widespread support by turning in the maximum amount of signatures allowed — 2,000 in this case. Hune or anyone else who decides to throw their hat into the ring are now handicapped by having only three weeks to collect the signatures plus they’ve lost valuable campaigning time they could have used to have better name recognition outside of their own area.
Fortunately, Rogers did this to his fellow Republicans. So, I’m not all that, you know, broke up about it or anything.
UPDATE: It appears that Rogers’ brother Bill Rogers, a state House Representative from Livingston County is also considering running for his brother’s seat. Mike Rogers’ decision to drop out late may be an effort to screw over other Republicans in favor of his brother. Classy!
