BREAKING: Carl Levin to Retire

[itshappening]

Justin is in a 55/45 district. Why the hell would he give it up to run a statewide campaign where all his No votes will dragged up and demagogued etc? Plus, Obama will pop up to grandstand. There's lots of material there. How on earth could be vote against the VAWA?! I can see the Headlines now: "Obama visits rape victims in Michigan". He'll gleefully use such an opportunity to ram the point home that Justin doesn't want to help these poor women who are being beaten and raped. Or he voted against the shelter the woman ran to when escaping the an abusive husband.

And on and on it goes. Every program he's voted against they will drag it up and contrive to tell some manufactured story. This is how they operate and Levin would not be retiring unless they had a plan to hand it off to someone. The Democrats never put at risk a Senate seat and will be all out to hang on to this even though it's open it's really not as voters will be hit hard and pressed into voting for the Democrat through the usual tactics.

i would honestly be surprised if Justin cracked 42% once they're done with him statewide. It will be a bloodbath and the Democrats will be yukking it up for years to come.

 

[TaftFan]

I suggested elsewhere we go ahead and let Romney's older brother run to see if an open Michigan seat is winnable. He is 71 and would probably only serve one term if elected. If he indeed got elected, the seat would be viable and Amash could run in 2020.

 

[supermario21]

Democrats never put a Senate seat at risk? Nationwide or the Michigan Party? Because I'm pretty sure Evan Bayh in 2010 retiring a week before the filing deadline was essentially throwing away that one lol. I get your fears, but Amash is probably best equipped to explain those votes. You're scared of VAWA? Then heck why even have a liberty movement? And Taft, 2020 would be worse than 2014.

 

[itshappening]

Democrats never put a Senate seat at risk? Nationwide or the Michigan Party? Because I'm pretty sure Evan Bayh in 2010 retiring a week before the filing deadline was essentially throwing away that one lol. I get your fears, but Amash is probably best equipped to explain those votes. You're scared of VAWA? Then heck why even have a liberty movement? And Taft, 2020 would be worse than 2014.

2 million voters are not going to read his facebook. They will see the scary ad and Obama visiting with rape victims to press home the point. That's it. Then every newspaper in the state will be telling the dumbass voter to vote for the Democrat. The Democrats are not stupid. They're not going to throw away an MI senate seat. They will spend millions and tens of millions if they have to with Obama, Clinton and Kerry visits. It will be a brutal race and Amash will be chewed up, spat out and pounded into the ground. Once they've won and ended his career at the tender age of 34 we will never hear the end of it. They will be reminding us of it for years to come.

edit: the liberty movement should go for Senate seats in Red states where the primary is the election hint : South Carolina. Justin is just in the wrong state for us to pull it off.

 

[Uriah]

I dont think Amash should run. A no name Democrat will have a field day with all his no votes. They will bury him and they will even send Obama a few times to lap it up and enjoy the easy victory. They will be talking about it for years to come. it's not a good idea.

If the Democratic nominee's main message is how "bad" Amash is they will lose. For any candidate to win they must give the electorate a reason to vote for something not against. Running against Amash's record will increase his name recognition as much as the Democrat's.

 

[Hyperion]

Michigan has a Democratic lean but it's not overwhelming. The house delegation, State Senate, State House are all GOP(granted with favorable lines). In a mid-term year with a Democratic president, the GOP will probably be in its best position to win an open seat. If Justin is going to run, it's difficult to envision a scenario where he'll stand a better chance.

I think Amash's intelligent, level-headed approach along with independent stances on the foreign policy, civil libertarian issues would play well with swing voters.

Like man I would hate to see Justin risk a house seat he should hold for a long time for an uncertain Senate race. It's his career and he certainly understands the possibilities better. I trust whatever decision Amash makes to the best.

 

[erowe1]

Because I'm pretty sure Evan Bayh in 2010 retiring a week before the filing deadline was essentially throwing away that one lol.

It was the opposite. By waiting until that moment Bayh allowed the party to choose its nominee without a primary. So they ended up with a solid one.

He could have announced his retirement 2 years in advance and allowed for a real primary contest. But presumably he hadn't decided to yet. And if he'd announced it just another week ahead of when he did, that would have allowed a no-name Democrat to get on the primary ballot and win their party's nomination.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

What's a liberty Democrat? Someone with terrible fiscal ideas? I'm sorry I just can't buy into that idea.

That's two-party paradigm-itis, and we're supposed to be past that. The relevant paradigm for us is liberty candidate versus non-liberty candidate, not Dem vs GOP. A liberty Democrat is the same as a liberty Republican, somebody who is nominally running under a major party banner in order to get elected, but who is a constitutionalist and libertarian in substance. There will be a different accent (more socially liberal, more prone towards emphasizing civil liberties), but we are looking for the same thing as in GOP candidates, somebody with a Paul track record or mindset, including on fiscal issues. A major party label is merely a leverage point to be used to get into office, not a place to call home.

A lot of Democrats and independents were attracted to Paul during his campaigns, including being active in the meetup groups, and this group should be mined to run in the winnable position in half of these open seat situations (districts/states that are Democratic dominated). The winnable position in Republican districts/states is one where our candidate is the Republican primary winner/nominee, and the winnable position in Democratic districts/states is one where our candidate is the Democratic primary winner/nominee. WE NEED TO INFLUENCE BOTH major parties in the direction of liberty, the same way neo-cons influence both parties.