Debbie Stabenow May Have To Face Up To A New Kind Of Campaign And A Newish Kind Of Republican

Ever hear of Debbie Ann Stabenow? She's the senior senator from Michigan. She was first elected to the Senate in 2000 after serving in the state House (1979-1991), the state Senate and Congress. In her last reelection effort (2012), she trounced Rep. Pete Hoekstra 2,735,826 (59%) to 1,767,386 (38%) [Hoekstra was a kind of DREAMer who moved to the U.S. from Holland with his parents at age 3, went on to become the very right wing and super-racist congressman from Grand Rapids-- where the video up top was shot-- and was recently appointed ambassador to Holland by Señor Trumpanzee.] Stabenow is a middle of the pack Dem, rated an "A" by ProgressivePunch, the 29th most progressive Democrat in the Senate (our of 48). The GOP always underestimates her and she always kicks their ass.

Now she may be facing a very different kind of Republican though-- one with a lot more in common with Donald Trump than with, say, Jerry Ford... or even Pete Hoekstra or Rick Snyder-- she may need to approach the election differently... or maybe not. Kid Rock is a joke... but, as you well know, so is Donald J. Trump, the country's fake president.

Trumpanzee won Michigan's crucial 16 electoral votes 2,279,543 (47.50%) to 2,268,839 (47.27%)-- a 10,704 vote margin. Wassermann Schultz and the other party bosses could't have picked a worse candidate for Michigan than the avatar of the status quo, Queen Hillary. Although she won 73 Michigan delegates to the nominating convention to Bernie's 67, he beat her in the primary by a bigger margin than the margin Trump beat her by-- 598,943 to 581,775. Trump won 76 counties. Hillary won 7. Bernie won 73 counties in the primary; it should have sent a message to the Democratic Party that their pre-anointed corporate shill was in trouble. Unfortunately for all of us-- and for the whole world-- it didn't.

And Bernie didn't just beat Hillary in many of the swing counties in the state, he beat Trump on primary day as well. Here are 20 counties, big and small, where Bernie beat Trump in the primary but where Trump beat Hillary in the general:

• Alger Co.- Bernie- 622; Trumpanzee- 517
• Allegan Co.- Bernie- 5,545; Trumpanzee- 5,327
• Bay Co.- Bernie- 6,363; Trumpanzee- 5,738
• Benzie Co.- Bernie- 1,650; Trumpanzee- 1,278
• Calhoun Co.- Bernie- 5,810; Trumpanzee- 5,800
• Clinton Co.- Bernie-4,524 ; Trumpanzee- 3,777
• Eaton Co.- Bernie- 7,007; Trumpanzee- 5,386
• Emmet Co.- Bernie- 2,589; Trumpanzee- 2,244
• Gogebic Co.- Bernie - 790; Trumpanzee- 753
• Grand Traverse Co.- Bernie- 8,091; Trumpanzee- 5,891
• Gratiot Co.- Bernie- 1,812 ; Trumpanzee- 1,799
• Houghton Co.- Bernie- 2,029; Trumpanzee- 1,497
• Ionia- Bernie- 2,812; Trumpanzee- 2,676
• Isabella Co.- Bernie- 4,024; Trumpanzee- 2,180
• Keweenaw Co.- Bernie- 188; Trumpanzee- 184
• Kent Co.- Bernie- 43,375; Trumpanzee- 22,742
• Leelanau Co.- Bernie- 2,359 ; Trumpanzee- 1,613
• Manistee Co.- Bernie- 1,646 ; Trumpanzee- 1,552
• Shiawassee Co.- Bernie- 4,452 ; Trumpanzee- 3,864
• Van Buren Co.- Bernie- 3,656; Trumpanzee- 3,287

Add to that some of the big blue-leaning swing counties where Bernie swamped Hillary but where she still managed to eke out a win in November anyway. Those are counties where Bernie would have run up much bigger margins. Examples:

• Ingham Co.- Bernie- 22,909; Trumpanzee- 8,056
• Kalamazoo Co.- Bernie- 20,146; Trumpanzee- 8,655
• Muskegon Co.- Bernie- 10,062; Trumpanzee- 5,757
• Washtenaw Co.- Bernie- 38,063; Trumpanzee- 10,206

Yes, Bernie certainly would have won Michigan. And if Stabenow, who was a big Hillary booster, is smart she'll co-sponsor Bernie's Medicare-For-All bill and ask him to campaign with her in Battle Creek, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Muskegon and most of all, Grand Rapids. And she'll politely demur if Hillary volunteers to campaign for her in the state.

This is what Kid Rock had to say to his followers at a concert/campaign rally last Wednesday night in Grand Rapids, after the introduction, "Will you please welcome the next senator of the great state of Michigan, Kid Motherfuckin' Raaahhhhhkkk:

What’s going on in the world today?
It seems the government wants to give everyone health insurance
But wants us all to pay.

And to be very frank, I really don’t have a problem with that.
Cuz’ God has blessed me and made my pockets fat.

But a redistribution of wealth seems more like their plan
And I don’t believe that you should have to save, sacrifice, do things by the book, and then have to take care of some deadbeat milking-the-system, lazy-ass motherfuckin' man.

Now, the issue of struggling single parents is an issue close to my heart
But read my lips: we should not reward all these women who can’t even take care of themselves but keep having kid after fuckin' kid.

Of course we should help them out. I don’t want to sit here and sound like a jerk. Let’s help them out with child care, job training, and put their God damn asses to work.

And you deadbeat dads, who refuse to be a man, who refuse to raise your sons up to be good men. You ghetto glorifiers and gangster wannabes. I say lock all you assholes up and lock away the fucking keys!

And if you want to take a knee or sit during our Star-Spangled banner: call me a racist cuz’ I’m not PC and think you have to remind me that black lives matter.

Nazis, fucking bigots, and now again the KKK: I say screw all you assholes and stay the fuck away!

It’s no secret we’re divided and we all should take some blame. We should be ashamed that we all seem scared to call him by his name!

So please almighty Jesus if you’re looking down tonight. Please guide us with your wisdom and give us the strength to fight. To fight the tyrant evils that lurk here and abroad and remind us all we are still just one nation under God.

Now let’s get down to brass tacks before I hit you with this funk. Like it or not, Hillary Clinton lost and your president is Donald Motherfuckin' Trump!

If Kid Rock for Senate has got folks in disarray, wait till they hear Kid Rock for President of the U.S.A.

Cuz’ wouldn’t it be a sight to see: President Kid Rock in Washington, D.C.
Standing in the Oval Office like a G.
Holding my dick ready to address the whole country.
I look the nation dead in the eyes live on TV and simply tell them: you never met a motherfucker quite like me.

It would be a different campaign than any Stabenow has ever contemplated. I doubt that'll be his stump speech... but there's not much he will be able to do to change it all that much. What will Michiganders think of some of his ideas-- like... well, on single mothers: "put their goddamned asses to work" and "lock up all these women, who can’t even take care of themselves."

No one thought Arnold Schwarzenegger could possibly win in California either. Low-info minority kids helped the GOP bring it home for an exciting celebrity on October 7, 2003, in a special election to recall a dull, establishment Democrat that people did;'t know much about-- and in a far bluer state than Michigan!