TEA PARTY CANDIDATE BENTIVOLIO WINS MICHIGAN 11 HOUSE PRIMARY

[sailingaway]

A candidate who plays Santa Claus at Christmas events and actually raises reindeer won the Republican nomination in Michigan’s 11th District (Wayne-Oakland Counties) Tuesday night. Near-final results showed 60-year-old Kerry Bentivolio, an area leader in Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, winning more than 60 percent of the vote over Nancy Cassis, former state senator who ran as a write-in candidate.

One could almost call Bentivolio’s unusual political saga a true-to-life version of the late Fletcher Knebel’s classic novel“Dark Horse,” about a plain-spoken New Jersey highway commissioner who is given the Republican nomination for president when the nominee suddenly dies. With the sudden and surprising retirement of six-term GOP Rep. Thad McCotter in June, Bentivolio — who was also a U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm — was the lone candidate left on the ballot in this heavily Republican district. He was running on a platform of abolishing the income tax and Department of Education and getting the U.S. out of the United Nations and International Monetary Fund.

Obviously alarmed at the thought of a Paul man being their nominee, local GOP leaders rallied behind the 68-year-old Cassis. But because the filing deadline for the primary ballot had passed by the time of McCotter’s June 2 exit, former State Sen. and State Rep. Cassis could only run as a write-in candidate. Her campaign materials read: “Nothin’ Fancy. Just write-in Nancy,” and she spent more than $200,000 of her own money on the late-starting campaign.

But here was her major downfall and stumbling block: the last EPIC-MRA poll before the vote showed Cassis defeating Bentivolio by a margin of 55 to 38 percent among likely primary voters. Since a write-in vote is difficult in Michigan, it involves writing in the name as well as shading in an oval spot on the ballot, Bentivolio prevailed—and did so rather handily.

He had some high-octane support. Veteran GOP consultant John Yob ran his campaign. Liberty for All, the super PAC of fellow Paul supporter and Texas multimillionaire John Ramsey, spent an estimated $300,000 on mailings and TV broadsides slamming Cassis for her support in the legislature of the Michigan Business Tax, which has since been repealed. A final mailing by Liberty for All linked Cassis to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and charged both wanted to raise taxes.

There was some talk that Democrat Sayed Taj, a Canton Township physician, might overnight become a serious contender in this strongly Republican district because of the Republican candidate’s “outsider” pedigree — perhaps. But in the victory of Kerry Bentivolio, one sees the latest step in an intriguing pattern of “outsider” candidates winning GOP nominations for the House — from Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, who once faced foreclosure on his home, to former Texas Rep. Steve Stockman, who once declared bankrupcy and is now the GOP nominee in a new Houston-area district, to Navy Reservist James Bridenstine, who came out of nowhere to knock off 12-year Rep. John Sullivan in the Oklahoma 1 primary. The closest one can find to this trend of genuine outsiders is the Great Depression, when a number of unemployed laborers were elected to Congress as Democrats. It is a pattern that bears watching.

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/08/08/tea-party-candidate-bentivolio-wins-michigan-11-house-primary/

 

[Sola_Fide]

Freedom might be popular. I'm starting to believe

 

[jct74]

WOOHOO!!! Kerry B. for the win!

 

[georgiaboy]

fantastic!
mo
men
tum

 

[jct74]

here's a pretty good video report on the results, with some nice shots from the victory party and they emphasize he CRUSHED Cassis

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...rict/-/1719386/16009900/-/qfq78t/-/index.html

 

[Nathan Hale]

Great! How does the picture look for the general? This is a solid GOP district, right?

 

[jct74]

This is a solid GOP district, right?

pretty solid Republican district from everything I've heard. I think it was just recently redistricted to make it more favorable to Republicans actually.

 

[Origanalist]

WOOHOO!!! Kerry B. for the win!

That bears repeating. WOOOOHOOOOO!!

 

[whippoorwill]

Fuck Yes! Jolly Good.

 

[kathy88]

Glad to see Nancy wasted 200K of her own money

 

[ronpaulhawaii]

WOOOOT!

Press harder!

 

[Krzysztof Lesiak]

Great news!

 

[AuH20]

I'm taking a look at Kerry's challenger Syed Taj and based on what I see, he's beatable. However, what are the prevailing demographics in the district?

 

[AuH20]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/campaign-2012/MI/districts/MI11/profile/

District 11: Demographics
Population 662,563
Percentage of Population Age 65 and Up 11.6%

Ethnicity
Percentage White 90.9%
Percentage Black 3.7%
Percentage American Indian / Alaska Native 0.3%
Percentage Asian 3.0%
Percentage Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander 0.0%
Percentage Mixed Race 1.5%
Percentage Other Race 0.5%
Percentage Hispanic 2.0%
Percentage Non Hispanic White 89.5%
Percentage Non Hispanic Black 3.7%
Percentage Households All Speak Language Other than English 5.6%

Income
Median Household Income $59,177
Percentage Income in Poverty in 2009 4.3%

Energy
Percentage Homes heated by Electricity 5.6%
Percentage Homes heated by Gas 92.0%
Percentage Homes heated by Coal 0.0%
Percentage Homes heated by Fuel Oil 0.6%

Employment & Education
Percentage Employed Civilians 16-years-old and up 51.4%
Percentage with a College Degree 28.5%
Percentage Management or Professional Workers 37.5%
Percentage Sales or Office Workers 27.3%
Percentage Production or Transportation Workers 14.5%

Marriage
Percentage Married Couples 56.1%
Percentage Married Couples with Children 26.9%
Percentage Married Couple Both Work 39.7%
Percentage Unmarried Partner Households, Male living with Male 0.2%
Percentage Unmarried Partner Households, Female living with Female 0.2%

 

[EBounding]

I'm taking a look at Kerry's challenger Syed Taj and based on what I see, he's beatable. However, what are the prevailing demographics in the district?

It's probably the most affluent district in the state. The good news is Kerry's primary vote total not only beat Taj by 2x, but Kerry's votes alone beat the overall Democrat vote by 23%.

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/MI/Oakland/41155/95256/en/summary.html

 

[Darguth]

The district is *heavily* Republican after the 2010 redistricting. I think Bentivolio would need to implode on a scale similar to McCotter did in order for the Dems to beat him.

 

[Shane Harris]

this is how we win

 

[FSP-Rebel]

We're gonna win this seat no problem. The only hurdle was this fraud running the write-in campaign and we slapped the piss out of her with plenty of room to spare. I feel very rewarded by this victory having shared part of the day yesterday alongside Nancy hoping that we'd steamroll her. MI 11 and the party leadership (for now) just witnessed

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

here's a pretty good video report on the results, with some nice shots from the victory party and they emphasize he CRUSHED Cassis

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...rict/-/1719386/16009900/-/qfq78t/-/index.html

Awesome! Crushed

 

[Sola_Fide]

Michigan 11 seems alot like the 4th district of Kentucky. Affluent, heavily Republican, recently redistricted....there are probably other similarities. Maybe someone who is a lot smarter than me could figure out why these districts just nominated anti-fed, anti-war, pro-civil liberties tea party candidates???