Debbie Dingell expected to run for husband's congressional seat

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Detroit News

Debbie Dingell, a Democratic power broker and chairwoman of the Wayne State University Board of Governors, is expected to run for Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, now that her husband, U.S. Rep. John Dingell, announced his retirement Monday, political experts said.

Debbie Dingell, one of Michigan’s longtime representatives on the Democratic National Committee and a former president of the General Motors Foundation, decided in April not to run for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Carl Levin, D-Detroit, saying she wanted to avoid a costly primary with U.S. Rep. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township. The move effectively cleared the field for Peters, who is running against Republican Terri Lynn Land.

The retirement of John Dingell, 87, unlocks another rare open seat in Washington for Michigan’s politically ambitious Democrats, who often are sidelined by senior members serving in Congress for decades. If Debbie Dingell enters the race for the seat that includes parts of Wayne and Washtenaw counties, she would be the one candidate who could discourage others from competing.

“She would be the prohibitive favorite in the race,” said Lansing-based political consultant T.J. Bucholz.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140224/POLITICS02/302240054#ixzz2uFcH5GTP

[James48]

1. FYI

Before you ask-

She is 59, her husband is 87.


Good luck to her should she decide to run.

[2banon]

3. thanks for pre-answering my question. LOL! n/t

[frazzled]

2. I am so glad ...

that my name is not Debbie Dingell. (Not that my name is great, but it is not as funny as that.)

Hope she wins easily!

[7962]

4. I don't. Why cant MI find another Dem with some experience? I'm tired of "family" seats.

Dingell won the seat that his father held and stays for 60 yrs, now his wife is gonna step in? So the Dingells get to hold a House seat for 80+ years? This is one thing thats wrong with Congress. And yes, I believe in term limits, as do the vast majority of the country. I bet most here on DU support them too.

[phleshdef]

5. If the people there want to elect her, she has every right to run and win.

Term limits would be a disaster. Policy crafters spend years on the same committees, learning about those issues. Term limits would just guarantee that we end up with more policy know nothings than we already have.

[7962]

6. I agree she has every right to run. Disagree on your term limit opinion.

The "limit" could be several years. The original point of serving was to serve and go home. Now we have these experienced members you speak of becoming millionaires as they serve. These people start to think of it as THEIR seat and theyre entitled to it. You cant get anything done because the "senior" senator or representative doesnt care for it or wants something in return. But I would only support it if it were nationwide, otherwise my state would suffer by always being junior. And every poll shows that a vote would pass by a large margin.

But she will probably run and probably win because we keep doing the same thing over and over and wondering why nothing changes.She's a DNCer and even was a GM executive. If he's so disillusioned with the partisanship, why on earth would he want his wife to jump into it?

[Jenoch]

7. If term limits are imposed on members of congress,

then we also need to somehow limit the length of time the staffers can serve. The staff will have too much power if there are term limits.

[7962]

8. If they dont hire their own, then yes, definitely.

[Jenoch]

9. Huh? Why woulsn't they hire their own?

The point is, the entrenched staff would know how to get things done and their value increases. It's happening that way now. You don't think that members of congress don't already hire experienced staff people? Sure, they bring in people they trust from their home state, but there are people with experience from every state.

[7962]

10. Well, i did think they hired their own. But wasnt positive since you brought it up.

I just thought there may be something I didnt know about; some type of "permanent staff" or something. If you won an election why would you keep the staff of the guy you beat? So term limits would get rid of the staff by proxy. I assume....Although I guess its possible you may keep a manager or something.

[Jenoch]

11. What frequently happens among both parties

is that professonal 'staffers' are hired in key positions because they know how things work in capitol hill. They have been there a long time and are long term staff members.