August 24, 2007

Revisiting our old friend, the MI-7 district

Last year, when blogging at GOPProgress.com, I wrote a lot on the MI-7 race. Most of it amounted to complaining that the description of the then-incumbent, Rep. Joe Schwarz, who was more moderate than some in the GOP would have liked (and that included me, to be fair-- I recall having commented on RedState that I thought Schwarz's non-support for legislation to nix decisions like Kelo v New London was particularly lame), as a "liberal" was just a tad false. But I also recall having commented that while that district was a Republican one, it wasn't nearly as conservative as Rep. Schwarz's Republican primary challenger, the now Rep. Tim Walberg-- and that that district could end up favoring Democrats if Walberg were elected.

Well, while I certainly don't want to start an argument as to Schwarz vs. Walberg again (honestly, I didn't like either candidate, Schwarz because of things like the Kelo point, and Walberg because his campaign largely focused on God & GaysTM, rather than the fiscal issues, which were what led the Club for Growth to endorse him), I do just want to point out something interesting I came across today. From Michigan's Battle Creek Enquirer (i.e., MI-7's local paper):

If the 2008 election were held today, 7th District residents would vote for Rudy Giuliani for president and Joe Schwarz for Congress.

A newly released poll of 600 registered voters by Glengariff Group Inc., a Chicago-based Republican polling firm, showed the the once-solid Republican district has shifted Democratic-independent.

The poll, taken July 24 to 28, showed 36 percent of voters in the seven-county district identified as Democrats, 29 percent as Republicans and 12 percent independent.

If Schwarz, a Battle Creek Republican, were to run as a Democrat, the poll shows him beating U.S....

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August 24, 2007

Another problem for Bob Schaffer?

Bob Schaffer, the Republican candidate (apparently, but not if you listen to his own words, I guess) for Colorado's open Senate seat, is this month's replacement for Mitt Romney as the focus of many posts, most of them not terribly congratulatory.

So, you'll be surprised to know I'm writing about Schaffer again, and that he seems, again, to have got himself in a spot of bother. From Colorado Pols:

Some school districts are collecting state money for the time students spend changing classes, a member of the state Board of Education said Monday.

Board member Bob Schaffer said it is "quite a stretch" to count the five minutes between classes as part of the educational day

The Colorado education department estimates that 32 of the state's 178 school districts will collect $145.2 million during the coming school year by counting passing periods as part of the academic day.

[...]

Schaffer, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008, will propose a rule change when the state board meets in September.


In other words, Schaffer wants to change the rules so that schools can't collect money for portions of the day that students spend walking between classes.

For once (well, more than once, but still, it doesn't happen anything like 100% of the time), I find myself feeling a little sorry for Schaffer. Eliminating waste in Departments of Education, which usually have a lot of money to play with and a major obligation to spend all of it wisely, is something I care about and actually feel pretty strongly about. It's kind of a libertarian thing (something I don't usually accuse Schaffer of pursuing).

But, the problem is, parents don't like hearing that some nasty, "limit the government" type wants to steal the money being spent on their kids, even if ...

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August 24, 2007

Another problem for Bob Schaffer?

Bob Schaffer, the Republican candidate (apparently, but not if

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