Shifting political winds lift GOP hopes

Three Democratic congressmen in the region are facing challengers who contend that voters are frustrated with the status quo in Washington.

In southeast Michigan's 15th District, Republican Rob Steele of Ann Arbor will take on U.S. Rep. John Dingell, Jr., the Democratic incumbent from Dearborn. Mr. Dingell, 84, took office in 1955 and is seeking his 29th term this fall.

Dr. Steele, a cardiologist, has no political experience but hopes that fact works to his advantage. He plans to portray Mr. Dingell as a Washington insider who has lost touch with his constituents.

"How in the world can you expect the people who are causing the problems to fix them?" Dr. Steele has become fond of asking.

Mr. Dingell and John Conyers, Jr., who represents Michigan's 14th District, are the two longest-serving members of the House, but Dr. Steele contends that they have abandoned Michigan's true interests over the course of their tenure, instead favoring a liberal Washington ideology that he believes alienates their constituents.

"The reality is that Michigan has been a huge, huge loser for the past 40 years. Southeast Michigan, which has been the doldrums of the country, has the two longest-serving congressman, and I don't think that's an accident," Dr. Steele said.

"Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have no better friend in Congress than John Dingell," added Jennifer Hoff, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party. "That liberal agenda is not what the people of Michigan want."

Dr. Steele acknowledged that he faces an uphill battle in the campaign but predicted that he would win "by a whisker."

Uphill battle may be putting it mildly. Mr. Dingell has won 28 consecutive elections since the start of his political career in 1955 and claimed more than 70 percent of the vote in each of his past two races for re-election.

Michigan's 15th District, which includes all of Monroe County and parts of Washtenaw and Wayne counties, hasn't had a Republican representative since its creation in 1933. Residents of the district typically support Democratic candidates at a rate of 13 percentage points greater than the national average, according to the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter.

"Mr. Dingell is proud of the work that he's done, and he's looking forward to continuing to do that and fighting for every Michigan job," said Jason Ellemburg, Mr. Dingell's campaign manager.

He declined to comment on Mr. Dingell's re-election prospects.

Another Democratic incumbent under fire is Toledo's Marcy Kaptur. Like Mr. Dingell, she is a veteran of Congress - the longest-serving woman in the House of Representatives - and like Mr. Dingell, she has captured more than 70 percent of the vote in her past two elections.

But this fall, she faces a challenge from Republican Rich Iott, the Toledo-area businessman who until 2000 was president and chief executive of Seaway Food Town, the supermarket chain his father, Wallace, helped found.

"Rich has a great personal story to tell, and he really is an example of the American Dream," said Jason Mauk, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party.

"This is an election year that has produced a lot of unhappy voters, and many Ohioans are fed up with business as usual from the incumbent class in Washington - particularly the majority Democratic Party that has failed to deliver on the promises they offered in the last election."

Mr. Mauk said he was "optimistic" about Mr. Iott's chances.

"I don't think Marcy Kaptur has a corner on the market," he said. "It's time for a change."

But Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern rejected the notion that Miss Kaptur faces any more opposition in her district now than she has in the past several years of her 28-year career.

"One of the challenges I face is pushing back on the national narrative from outlets like Fox News that there's an enthusiasm gap among Democrats and a Republican wave coming," Mr. Redfern said. "There's no empirical evidence in Ohio that that's the case. It's just anecdotes that people hear.

"If you were to do a poll of Marcy Kaptur's race against little-known Rich Iott, you would see what we see, which is that Marcy Kaptur is quite well-situated in this coming election."

Mr. Redfern criticizes Mr. Iott for selling off his grocery stores in 2000, a move that ultimately caused the loss of jobs for many former Seaway Food Town employees.

Mr. Redfern said he had "no doubt" that Miss Kaptur would win re-election in the fall.

In Michigan's 7th Congressional District, which includes Lenawee and several other southern Michigan counties, voters will cast ballots in what could be a close race, as Republican Tim Walberg of Tipton challenges Democratic incumbent Mark Schauer of Battle Creek.

Mr. Walberg occupied the 7th District seat in 2007 and 2008 but lost the job to Mr. Schauer amid a wave of anti-Bush sentiment and Democratic enthusiasm two years ago. But the political winds have shifted, and Mr. Walberg wants to return to Capitol Hill.

In last week's primary, Mr. Walberg defeated Brian Rooney, an attorney whose grandfather founded the Pittsburgh Steelers, 41,940 votes to 23,605.

Mr. Walberg has begun the task of convincing voters that they made a mistake in 2008 by electing Mr. Schauer.

But Mr. Schauer's supporters are confident they can hold on come November.

"It's going to be a very clear choice this year, whether we go back to some of those failed Bush-Walberg policies that got us into this mess, or whether we continue down the road to economic recovery that Mark's leading us on," said Zack Pohl, a spokesman for the Schauer campaign.

"Tim Walberg's got a record of his own that a lot of people have already rejected."

In Ohio's 5th Congressional District, Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) faces a challenge from Caleb Finkenbiner, a Democrat from Defiance. Mr. Finkenbiner is a graduate of Tinora High School in Defiance and was an employee of Sauder Woodworking until 2008. In the 4th District, Republican incumbent Jim Jordan of Urbana will face a challenge from Democrat Doug Litt of Mansfield.

Neither the 4th nor the 5th district has had a Democratic representative in more than 70 years.

Contact Dennis Howe at:

dhowe@theblade.com

or 419-724-6050.