A new Inside Michigan Politics/Revsix/Change Media poll has Michigan State Representative Gretchen Driskell up five points over incumbent tea party Republican Tim Walberg in the 7th District Congressional race. The pollsters polled a sample of voters that was 30% Democrats, 36% Republicans and 34% Independents and Driskell came in with 42%. Walberg had 37% and 21% were undecided. The 5-point […]

I have been gnashing my teeth for months over the lack of polling in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. I have a personal stake in this race because I live in the 7th District and having Tim Walberg as my Congressman causes me no end of angst. So, I’ve been out at least once, more often twice, a week knocking doors […]

The Senior Executive Service (SES) is made up of the men and women who lead most of the major government agencies in the USA. According to the Office of Management and Budget, “Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. SES members are the major link between these appointees and the rest of […]

In the past couple of days both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (RSCC) have pulled campaign ad buys out of Michigan. The RSCC, seeing the handwriting on the wall regarding Terri Lynn Land’s “circling the drain” campaign, pulled out of their support of her: The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut the remaining […]

Pam Byrnes, the Democratic candidate in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District received a key endorsement of her race to unseat Tea Party Caucus member Republican Tim Walberg. This morning was endorsed by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce who call her “a champion of women’s economic priorities”. Here’s the endorsement statement from Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of […]

Tim Walberg is one of the most hypocritical politicians I’ve ever had the displeasure to have met. This guy, who claims he “was a tea partier before there was a tea party”, talks a lot about reining in government waste and holding elected officials accountable. Yet he himself is a big part of the problem. He has helped lead the […]

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: […]

Republicans know they are in deep trouble across our country. Their popularity is plummeting — their “unfavorable” rating is nearly 50% — largely thanks to efforts to stop people from voting, attacks on women and the LGBT community, and for making sure government doesn’t work and then blaming that on Democrats. In response, they have turned to deceptive strategies intended […]

All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog In August of last year, I sat down with Pam Byrnes, the sole Democratic candidate for Michigan’s hotly contested 7th Congressional District. In 2008, Democrat Mark Schauer defeated incumbent Republican Tim Walberg but, in 2010, Walberg won the seat back. Walberg, a former pastor and bible salesman is one of the […]

Last week the Michigan AFL-CIO gave its endorsements to two statewide candidates and several Congressional candidates: Mark Schauer, Governor Gary Peters, U.S. Senate Jerry Cannon, U.S. House – CD 1 Dan Kildee, U.S. House – CD 5 Pam Byrnes, U.S. House – CD 7 Sandy Levin, U.S. House – CD 9 John Conyers, U.S. House – CD 13 Yesterday, Mark […]

The only thing we have to fear is … heartless Republicans The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans who saw it run out due to Congressional inaction in December of 2013. The bill extends the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program which provides additional weeks of benefits after state-based unemployment benefits come to an […]