I’ve been writing about the race in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District quite a bit lately. Two things have this race stirring up interest. The first is that Professor Paul Clements, the Democrat who is challenging Fred Upton for this seat, has been running a race that’s far more competitive than any previous Democrat has run. He’s raised more money and […]

When Fred Upton learned that MaydayPAC was planning to spend $1.5 million to unseat him, he went into freak-out mode. He quickly put out a defensive and poorly-done video on Facebook where he describes MaydayPAC as a “shadowy Massachusetts ‘SuperPAC’” and MaydayPAC founder, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, as a “Harvard billionaire”. Of course, MaydayPAC is far from “shadowy”. They […]

[This post has been updated to indicate that this is MaydayPAC’s second ad in MI-06.] Last week, broke the news that the citizen-funded MaydayPAC is planning to spend $1.5 million to defeat far-right Republican Congressman Fred Upton and to ensure that Paul Clements is the first Democrat to hold the seat in 21 years. Today, they released their second ad: […]

The MaydayPAC SuperPAC is a SuperPAC like no other. It is crowdfunded with a single-minded goal of enacting “fundamental reform in the way elections are funded.” Between May 1 and July 4 of this year they raised over $6 million using a Kickstarter-style fundraising approach. This election cycle, MaydayPAC is testing their belief that they can have an impact on […]

At around 2:00 a.m. this past Tuesday, residents in Berrien County on the west side of the state were awaken by the sound of a 24-30 inch natural gas pipeline rupturing. The noise was tremendous and some area folks said it “felt like the earth was shaking a little bit.” Vic Rogers, a farmer that lives just a quarter mile […]

NRDC Action Fund, the 401(c)(4) arm of one of the largest environmental organizations in the country, has selected the Top 20 #DirtyDenier$ and are rolling them out over Congress’s summer break. The #DirtyDenier$ are chosen because of they “allow polluters to foul our air by casting dirty votes and accept dirty money.” In the Top 20 are two Michigan Congressmen: […]

There are few Republicans who have so poorly represented the issues and concerns of Michiganders than Fred Upton in the 6th Congressional District. He has repeatedly supported the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, spurring an op-ed by the Kalamazoo Gazette asking him to “Knock it off!”. In a district which has Lake Michigan as one of its borders, Upton […]

“I’m a participant in life.”

Fred Upton has been in Congress since 1987 representing the parts of southwestern Michigan. During that time, the Whirlpool heir has distinguished himself as a far-right conservative Republican on nearly every issue you could name.

Mike O’Brien, a former Marine and Missouri farmer, is challenging Fred Upton in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. The gridlock imposed on Congress by Republicans unable and unwilling to compromise to affect change combined with Upton’s anti-environment, anti-women, anti-senior votes over the past several years, O’Brien felt there was both a need for change and a real possibility of victory. According to recent polling done by his campaign, he’s absolutely right.

My interview with Mike O’Brien after the jump.

Another day, another lobbyist appointed to a Congressional position Iraqi war vet and “Friend o’ the blog” John Waltz (pictured right) is running for Congress in Michigan’s 6th district against the pro-Big Oil, pro-Big Business, anti-environment incumbent Fred Upton. This is a good thing because, honestly, Upton is everything we do NOT want in a Congressional Representative. Upton is the […]

Yesterday, John Waltz, former Executive Director of Heartland Revolution, filed papers with the FEC to run against Fred Upton in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District in the 2012 election. Waltz is no stranger to running for Congress. In 2010, he ran an unsuccessful campaign in Kentucky’s 4th District where he was outspent by a 3-to-1 margin by his Republican opponent. Since […]

After failing in their first submission of petition language for the recall of State Representative Al Pscholka, recall advocates, led by Benton Harbor City Commissioner Dennis Knowles, were successful yesterday in getting petition language approved. Unsuccessful earlier this month with its recall language, the group seeking Pscholka’s ouster covered its bases this time by submitting four separate wordings, said Berrien […]