Can Paul Clements And His Grassroots Army Beat The Sick Fred Upton-Steve Israel Beltway Establishment?

everything that's wrong with American politics in one little picture

Steve Israel, Chairman of the DCCC, had managed to keep Fred Upton's blue-leaning district off the radar for years. Even after Obama won the district 184,186 (53%) to 156,835 (45%), Israel stepped in to make sure Upton would have an easy rise to reelection. Even after polling showed a Democrat could beat Upton by double digits, Israel refused to let the DCCC engage in the race and Israel continued calling Democratic organizations and donors and demanding they not help fund Democratic candidate Paul Clements.

There are two categories of Republicans that Israel has taken off the table at the DCCC-- fellow members of his old Center Aisle Caucus and Republican Party senior policy makers, leaders and committee chairman. Upton fits both categories and he has been one of the most protected Republicans by the DCCC. The pathetic DC pundits who take all their direction for the Beltway committees, have been too lazy and stupid to even ask why MI-06 was never in contention.

This year, however, thank primarily to a spectacular grassroots campaign by Paul Clements and his team and to the herculean efforts by the nonpartisan, crowd-sourced, good government MayDayPac, Israel has been suddenly thwarted. Even as Gary Peters is running up immense statewide polling numbers in his Senate race, Israel has abandoned his 4 pathetic congressional candidates. The only Democrat facing off in a Republican-held district that is still standing-- standing and gaining momentum-- is Paul Clements, the candidate Israel has worked to sabotage. (Last week he called LCV and begged them to not go up against Upton. Being LCV, they said "Yes, sir"-- and spent more money on Susan Collins instead.

Last week 11 shady right-wing super PACs sounded the alarm and came running to Upton's aid in the 6th district. Who knows which corporate crooks are funding Republican operations like the Road to Freedom PAC, Stand Tall America PAC, The Good Fund, Main Street Advocacy, etc and who knows what favors the Congressman is promising them in return for tech 6 figure contributions? Even the Wall Street Journal noticed something different was happening than the usual in southwest Michigan. "[I]n a year in which voters are questioning their allegiances," wrote Siobhan Hughes, "the Clements campaign sees Mr. Upton’s incumbency and financial support from corporate interests as weaknesses they can exploit."

Mr. Clements’ campaign is betting it can overcome Mr. Upton’s built-in advantages in part because of a unique feature of the political landscape: Michigan is a state of  ticket-splitters. A poll conducted for Mr. Clements campaign found that voters in the sixth district support the Democratic Senate contender by 50% to 38%, but back the Republican for governor. It also found that some 73% of those surveyed didn’t know who Mr. Clements was, suggesting the challenger has an opportunity to build support from independents provided he can improve his name recognition. Mr. Clements’s pollster is Dave Beattie, who has also worked for third-party candidate Greg Orman, who is now in an unexpectedly close Senate race in Kansas.

Upton and his operatives have been so busy threatening MayDayPAC donors with retribution that he cancelled the district's one debate and adamantly refused to reschedule it. Are MI-06 voters starting to wonder what Fred Upton has turned into after all those decades in Washington? Blue America is running an ad in the district that asks them to think about it. If you'd like to contribute to Clements' Get Out The Vote efforts directly, you can do that here. Or if you'd like to help us keep that ad up where it's needed most, along the Lake from Saugatuck down through South Haven to Coloma, Benton Harbor, St. Joseph, Sawyer and Three Oaks and over to Niles, Decatur and Paw Paw, please contribute what you can here.