Fred Upton

Last cycle Republican Fred Upton spent $3,941,684 on his reelection bid against progressive first-time candidate Paul Clements, who managed to raise $793,717. 68% of Upton's money ($2,668,096) came from PACs. Upton, who was first elected to Congress in 1986, was reelected with 55.8% of the vote.

Last cycle we spent a lot of time learning about southwest Michigan's 6th Congressional District and the would-be feudal lord who represents it, Fred Upton. Judging from his fundraising patterns, Upton has every intention of running for a 16th term next year.

For our final push, Blue America ran independent expenditures in 4 races, two for Senate seats and two in House races. When Adelson and his slimy allies jumped into the CA-33 race with a million dollars worth of racist smear against Ted Lieu, we decided to reach likely voters with a full page ad in the L.A. Times, which we think has worked very well. Early vote returns from Democrats started spiking very sharply as soon as the ad ran.

Things can only get better for the Democrats after this asshole steps downOne week from today is election day. Are you counting down? The Blue America strategy has been to see if we could elect some solid progressives to Congress. Once Pelosi reappointed Steve Israel to the DCCC, it was immediately obvious that the Democrats would have ZERO chance to take back the House.

Tea Party extremist Frank Guinta voted to cut the Center for Disease Control budget-- and now he's whining about inadequate response to ebolaOn February 19, 2011 the Republican Party decided to cut funding for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2011. Although Ron Paul didn't vote that day, only 3 Republicans recognized the folly of what the House Republicans were doing: John Campbell (R-CA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Walter Jones (R-NC).

everything that's wrong with American politics in one little pictureSteve 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.

Fred Upton only agreed, reluctantly, to one debate— and only after Paul Clements started gaining tremendous traction in the southwest Michigan 6th congressional district. Upton, an heir to the Whirlpool fortune that once— but no longer— was the biggest employer in the area, doesn’t like being questioned or reminded of his record. Shipping all those Whirlpool jobs— i.e., Republican-backed “outsourcing”— doesn’t go over well with his constituents.Western Michigan along the 94 in towns from Three Oaks, New Buffalo, Sawyer up through Benton Harbor and St.

The most likely House seat in Michigan to go from Red to Blue is the 6th district in the southwest corner of the state, Fred Upton’s district. The PVI is R+1. Obama won the district against McCain 184,186 (53%) to 156,835 (45%) in 2008. Senator Debbie Stabenow won the district. Senator Carl Levin won the district. Today polling shows that Democratic senatorial candidate Gary Peters is beating GOP nut job Terri Lynn Land in MI-06 by double digits.

Founded in 1961, MIRS— Michigan Informantion and Research Service— isn’t meant to be for everyone.

If politics was rational Roll Call's list of the 10 most vulnerable House Members might look very different and possibly include other congressional sociopaths besides Staten Island Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm. Almost everyone but Grimm on the list-- Carol Shea-Porter excepted-- is just some dull 3rd rate hack backbencher.