Map of Michigan's Seventh Congressional District from Wikipedia. Incumbent Mark Schauer is fending off a challenge from former Representative Tim Walberg.
U.S. Representative Mark Schauer will be debating challenger Tim Walberg four times this month.
On October 6th, the Adrian Daily Telegram reported that the times and locations for two of the four upcoming debates between incumbent Mark Schauer and challenger Tim Walberg have been set.
The first debate will take place on Wednesday, October 13th, from 7 P.M to 8 P.M. at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center. WLNS (Channel 6 in Lansing) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are co-sponsoring the debate. The public is invited to attend. The Performing Arts Center's address is 378 State Street in Charlotte.
WLNS will be broadcasting the debate live, so residents of Washtenaw County whose cable systems carry WLNS Channel 6 will be able to watch the debate. Those who do not have cable but do have broadband can follow the debate on WLNS's website as the station will stream it live.
The second debate will be held the next morning at 8:30 A.M. on October 14th at the Lexington Lansing Hotel on 925 South Creyts Road, Lansing. The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the candidate forum. Anyone wishing to attend the forum should call (517) 487-6340.
More at the link, including information on the other two debates and how Walberg picked a fight with debate sponsor AARP before he accepted their invitation. Smooth move, Ex-Lax, especially in a district with a lot of retirees (I should know, I used to live there) and a year in which Social Security and Medicare are such big issues.
WILX reports on how Social Security and Medicare have become major issues in the race between Mark Schauer and Tim Walberg.
A few days ago, I posted a diary in support of Lance Enderle's campaign in which, along with several other key points, I pointed out his opponent, 5-term incumbent Republican Mike Rogers' extreme position on reproductive rights for women:
4. MIKE ROGERS WANTS RAPE VICTIMS FORCED TO CARRY RAPISTS' OFFSPRING: The whole nation is abuzz about Alan Grayson's opponent, "Taliban Dan" Webster. Well, guess what? Republican Mike Rogers is also so extreme on abortion that he wants women who are the victims of rape to be forced to give birth to their rapist's offspring. I can't imagine the injustice of police detaining & supervising rape victims for 9 months until their rapists' spawn are born. Yet that is the necessary consequence of Mike Rogers' position.
Time again for my weekly feature in which I excerpt my articles from Examiner.com. This week, the digest not only describes what happened on primary night, but also debunks two popular myths about this election year.
Many column inches have been written about the anti-tax sentiment sweeping the country in the form of Tea Party protests and town hall meetings during the past year. However, only a relatively small amount of that well-publicized hostily to taxation was in evidence Tuesday, as ten of the thirteen ballot proposals involving property taxes passed, some by impressive margins with relatively strong turnouts exceeding the county average of 21.28%. Only the renewal of the millage for the general operating budget for Manchester Township, one of the millage renewals for police protection in Northfield Township, and the bond proposal for the Saline Area Schools failed.
Details on the ballot proposals at the link in the headline.
In municipal primary elections held last Tuesday, all the incumbents running to keep their offices won. In Ann Arbor, the mayor and five council members won strong, in some cases overwhelming victories over an insurgent slate. In Ypsilanti, the mayor and the one council member who ran for re-election also won by large margins.
These electoral wins came despite widely publicized anti-incumbent sentiment which claimed only a few victims in the state, most notably Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who lost her congressional seat in the primary.
Details on the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti municipal elections at the link.
It looks both these memes (anti-incumbent and anti-tax) held little weight in local elections. Take that, Tea Party!
Other races, including Governor and U.S. House of Representatives, on the other side of the jump.
Taking a cue from the Frank Luntz School of Media Savvy, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) sent out an rather interesting email this past weekend. It says, in part:
Washington - Despite a myriad of polls showing that a vote in favor of a government takeover of healthcare would be directly at odds with the interests and values of her constituents, Mark Schauer, instead chose to stand with President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
And later, in the same email:
"By ignoring the overwhelming majority of her constituents, and voting in favor of Nancy Pelosi's government takeover of healthcare, Mark Schauer has fueled a level of anger and frustration within the constituency he claims to represent," said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain.
Congressman Schauer (MI-07) is, as you have probably already figured out for yourself, a man.
I'm pretty danged proud of my Congressman just about now. I believe he cast an historic vote this past weekend and I, for one, am impressed by his leadership, his thoughtfulness and his position on the reform of our nation's health insurance system.
Meanwhile, as they play cutty-cutty, pastey-pastey with their emails and send them out across the country, the NRCC can't even get the sex right of the person they are trying to slam.
Last August, a health care protest rally staged in front of the offices of MI-07 Representative Mark Schauer brought out Jackson County Commissioner Phil Duckham with a swastika sign. You can read more about that in my Huffington Post article. This Thursday, another such rally is scheduled.
So the question is: Will Phil Duckham stage a repeat performance?
A counter protest due to begin a 3:30 pm is planned and, if you have a chance to go, it might be worth a trip. If you take photos of any particularly "interesting" signs or activities, feel free to email me and I will be sure they get published prominently.
The official statement for the counter protest:
Dear Friend-
We urgently need your help. This Thursday, the Michigan Republican Party is planning to hold a health care protest outside Congressman Schauer's district office at 4:30pm. The GOP invitation says, "We need your help to stop Mark Schauer and the liberals from a radical government takeover of health care!"
During a similar protest last August, pro-health care reform activists outnumbered Tea Party protesters by a 4-to-1 margin, and we need your help to do it again. You can watch a video of Mark speaking at last summer's health care rally here.
If you agree with Mark that we need to fix our broken health care system, hold the big health insurance companies accountable, eliminate the prescription drug donut hole, and cut health care costs for working families, then you can show your support by attending a Rally for Health Care Reform this Thursday. Here are the details:
WHAT: Rally for Health Care Reform
WHERE: U.S Rep. Mark Schauer's District Office
800 W Ganson, Jackson, MI 49202
WHEN: Thursday, March 11, 3:30pm
WHY: To send a message that working Michigan families are ready to fight for health care reform
We're in the homestretch of a 62-year battle to fix our broken health care system. Mark is ready to get the job done, but the Party of No and their deep-pocketed friends are willing to do whatever it takes to defend the status quo for another 62 years. We can't let them get away with it.
Come show your support for health care reform and Mark Schauer this Thursday - and don't forget to tell your friends!
On the City Pulse radio show February 3rd, former Republican Congressman Joe Schwarz, a Republican, said Mark Schauer has been a more effective legislator than Tim Walberg was during his tenure as the Representative of MI-07. The show can be listened to HERE. This section kicks in around 17:35.
Transcript:
Kyle Melinn: You've taken a look at two different people who have represented the 7th Congressional district that you once represented - Tim Walberg and Mark Schauer. Who do you think's done a better job or did a better job representing that district?
Joe Schwarz: Mark Schauer.
Kyle Melinn: Okay, why's that?
Joe Schwarz: I think Mark Schauer has made a legitimate effort at trying to represent the whole district and is far more aware of what the real issues that the voters in the 7th district care about might be than Tim Walberg. I think Schauer in his year has proven himself to be a more effective Congressman for the 7th district that Walberg was in his two years.
Given that Walberg defeated Schwarz in the GOP primary in 2006 due in large part to a huge influx of outside money (i.e., The Club for Growth) and that he actually endorsed Schauer in the 2008 General Election, it's not totally surprising. It is, however, gratifying and encouraging.
Meet Brian Rooney. Brian Rooney is running for the Republican nomination in MI-07 this year. He has only lived in Michigan since 2007 and he recently moved into MI-07 in order to run for this seat. Even his main Republican opponent, Tim Walberg, doesn't have much nice to say about him:
Walberg questioned if Rooney runs whether he can win over voters if he's just moved into their district.
"He is going to have to move in as a carpet bagger," Walberg said. "Unless you are a Kennedy or a Clinton, you don't do well as a carpet bagger."
At the Western Washtenaw Democrats meeting last Friday, Mark Schauer came out strongly in favor of pushing the Democrats' health care bill through the Senate without the standard requirement of 60 votes.
Ahhh. Finally. A Republican admitting that the threshold to pass legislation through the Senate in this country is no longer the Constitutionally-mandated 51 votes. Now it's 60.
For a Republican liar, you gotta give the guy credit for a brief moment of honesty.
Last night, MI-07 Representative Mark Schauer spoke to the 2010 annual membership meeting of the Western Washtenaw Dems. During his conversation, he came out firmly in favor of a reconciliation path to passing health insurance reform legislation and was outspoken about the atrocious decision by the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) to allow nearly unlimited corporate funding of political campaigns.
We need to push a bill, maybe taking the Senate bill and modifying it, and put into it all the components that can be passed under reconciliation. The long and short of that is that it doesn't take 60 votes. It takes 51. That's actually what our democracy is about. Anybody that complains about that, I'm going to give it to 'em and say it's not 60 votes that's a majority, 51 votes is a majority.
As the son of a nurse who worked in primary care for many years, I've long held the belief that decisions about childbearing should be made by a woman in consultation with her family and doctor. The government doesn't belong in the room when these very personal, private decisions are being made.
Unfortunately, the debate over abortion - a legal, constitutionally-protected medical procedure - has become a wedge issue in the larger effort to reform our nation's broken health care system.
Since current federal law already bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, and nothing in the Affordable Health Care for America Act changes the Hyde Amendment, I didn't hesitate to vote against the amendment introduced by my colleague Bart Stupak.
This measure represents a dangerous step towards making abortion a class-based procedure that only wealthy women could afford.
Under Mr. Stupak's amendment, women who don't get their health insurance through their employer and purchase affordable coverage through the new Health Insurance Exchange, would be denied the ability to buy a health insurance policy that covers abortion services - even when using their own money. That's right: none of the private plans or public insurance options found in the Exchange would be allowed to cover abortion.
UPDATE: The Walberg campaign was quick to dub Rooney a "carpetbagger" for only recenty moving to the district. "We do not need a lawyer from Wayne County when we have Tim Walberg," Walberg supporter Mark Behnke, the mayor of Battle Creek, said in a statement released by the campaign.
The only way you could improve this is if Sharon Renier joined the fray.
Update! ... Well, my stars and garters, that joke did have a very familiar feel to it. Clucketh the Munith Turkey Lady from the archives.
"I'm officially a Republican," (Sharon Renier) said, adding that she will "absolutely" take on Tim Walberg in the Republican primary for U.S. House District 7 in 2010.
"I am no longer a Democrat," Renier said. "They don't even know when they've got a good candidate."
October 3, 2009, the Washtenaw County Democratic Party held its annual dinner. Three U.S. Congressmen were in attendance. The first was freshman Representative Mark Schauer, a young, vibrant and optimistic Congressman. The second was Representative John Dingell, the longest-serving member in Congress today and a man who has introduced a single-payer health care bill every year for 52 years. The third was a pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement, a man jailed over 40 times, beaten and bloodied for his views and actions, Representative John Lewis from Georgia. He attended President Obama's inauguration as the only living speaker from the rally at the March on Washington. These three men, from dramatically different backgrounds and perspectives, all spoke with one voice in saying that health care reform in this country is the civil rights struggle of our time.
From L to R: County Dem. Party Chair Stu Dowty, Rep. Mark Schauer, Rep. John Dingell, Rep. John Lewis
Last week I penned a Letter to the Editor to the Dexter Leader, my local newspaper and part of Heritage Newspapers. Heritage Newspapers is, from their webpage:
..an award winning publishing group that consists of 11-suburban publications (9 weekly, 1 twice-weekly and 1 tri-weekly publication) in southeastern Michigan with a circulation of over 316,850. [...] Heritage Newspapers covers southeastern Michigan from Dearborn to Ohio and from Grosse Ile to Chelsea with the highest market penetration of any newspaper, in this area.
Two days later I received a response from one of their editors. The email was such a shocking display of bias and unprofessionalism that I felt compelled to respond to them AND their supervisors at Heritage. Their email and my response are below.
Yesterday my Huffington Post piece recieved a LOT of attention and was on the front page and the politics page all day (still on the Politics page.)
Below is a pretty remarkable update regarding Jackson County Commissioner Phil Duckham who thought it appropriate to bring a swastika sign to the rally.
Huffington Post piece is HERE. Also, Daily Kos diary is HERE and has some additional stuff in it. Check it out and give it a Rec if you're of a mind to.
I got my first inkling that things were going well when I received the following text from a friend:
It is AMAZING! HUGE turnout for our side!!!
The Jackson Citizen Patriot is now reporting that hundreds of people lined all four corners of the intersection near Schauer's Jackson office in what Jackson police describe as a "primarily peaceful" rally.
Positioned on all four corners of the N. West Avenue and Ganson Street intersection, people marched up and down the streets, chanting and carrying signs. Both opponents and proponents of President Barack Obama's health care reform proposal had planned to rally at the location, with supporters starting at 3:30 p.m. and opponents coming out at 4:30 p.m. Many passing motorists were stopping to honk, which created some traffic slowdowns. Police were in the intersection to try and keep things moving.
Organizing for America staff have learned that there will be an organized protest in front of Rep. Mark Schauer's Jackson office on Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 3:30.
OFA is asking that all progressives in the area that support health care reform turn out to this event to show our support for Rep. Schauer and to let him, the media, the voters and the anti-reform "teabaggers" know that THEY are the minority, not US!
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
While I certainly didn't run for Congress to defend the mistakes of the past, what's most important to me is protecting the working families in my district who rely on the auto industry to pay the bills and put food on the table.
For those who don't know, the 7th congressional district is home to the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, located just off I-69 in Eaton County. This world-class facility is where the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Saturn Outlook are built.
While the news of GM's bankruptcy filing one week ago today was certainly a tough blow for the state of Michigan, the Delta Township plant will actually be increasing production later this year as the Chevy Traverse is added to the plant's lineup. This is a move I personally advocated for to Fritz Henderson on his first day as CEO of GM.
Lately there has been a lot of Debate over the number of Democratic Congressional Districts that Democrats could gerrymander out of the state of Michigan if they had complete control (right now they hold the Governorship and State House. They stand a good chance at taking control of the State Senate while the Governor's race is a tossup). A few people have said that it is possible to succesfully draw a map that would yield 12 Democratic seats and only 2 Republican seats. I've been trying for several weeks to draw a 12-2 map, meanwhile protecting endangered incumbents (specifically Schauer) and I've determined that a 12-2 map would be far overeaching and in a neutral or Republican leaning year might end up 9-5 or worse. I think the best Michigan Democrats could do is create 11 safe or Democrat leaning districts and 3 strongly Republican districts. I've drawn a map that I think does just that, although I still am not entirely confident that we could hold both of my "Thumb" districts in a Republican year. But without further ado, here's my map.
Today Congressman Mark Schauer (D-MI) helped a local contractor weatherize a home in Jackson. Earlier this week, President Obama and the U.S. Department of Energy that Michigan will receive more than $325 million for weatherization funding and energy efficiency grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Schauer comments on how the program will help create jobs, make homes more energy efficient and help our environment in the following video:
For more information about how weatherization funding from the Recovery Act will benefit Michigan, click here.
Cross-posted at 
Last night, MI-07 Representative Mark Schauer spoke to the 2010 annual membership meeting of the 
As the son of a nurse who worked in primary care for many years, I've long held the belief that decisions about childbearing should be made by a woman in consultation with her family and doctor. The government doesn't belong in the room when these very personal, private decisions are being made.
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
