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Sun Aug 28, 2005 at 01:00:00 AM EDT
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Alan Fox (interview
with Matt Ferguson, September, 2005):
AF: That district is one that goes from fairly heavily
Republican Midland in the south up to Alpena in the north. So it's fairly
evenly divided. It was very hard fought last time around. Stamas won it in 2002
with just 51% of the vote against Rep. Andy Neuman. The district is not a Kerry
strong point. Kerry got less than 45%. The question the Democrats have to answer when they look at that one is
whether that district's Kerry numbers are down because it was an area where
Kerry was weak or whether it's like the Upper Peninsula and it's some other
reason. I think they may decide that. Neuman was succeeded by another Democrat
who could potentially be a candidate. There is Dale Sheltrown, who was term-limited. There is a potential for some
people with strength to run there. It's a little iffier that the Muskegon seat,
but it may be cheaper because there is really no large media market there and I
think it's one if the Democrats can find a strong candidate they'll put it on
the top of the list.
MF: There is a big issue there related to dioxin
contamination coming from the Dow plant in Midland. It's in the paper
regularly. Is that something someone could run with?
AF: It's a difficult district for a Democrat to be portrayed as the "green" candidate - because it
is a hunting-fishing-tourism sort of district. So Democrats from the northern
part of the state have generally not been the strongest environmentalists for
other reasons. Locally, an issue like that might be a little easier to play in
that direction. But that sort of district is generally one where Democrats look
for a more moderate candidate. |
| matt :: Analysis |
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