Will MI voters send U.S. House's "Mr. No" back to Washington?

[DonViejo]

By David Lawder
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan | Tue Oct 9, 2012 1:07am EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. freshman Republican Congressman Justin Amash has not been afraid to rub his party - and sometimes his western Michigan constituents - the wrong way.

And he makes no excuses about the many things he has cast votes against.

He voted against the budget bill authored by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan this year because it did not cut deeply enough for him.

On nearly every recent critical vote where House Speaker John Boehner struggled to win support from his party, Amash voted no: A landmark deal to raise the debt limit and institute spending controls last year, a payroll tax cut extension, a measure to keep student loan rates from rising, and a highway bill to keep road construction from grinding to a halt.

Now Amash takes his record back to Third District voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But it's not the same Third District that elected Amash in 2010. It has been redrawn as a result of the once-a-decade census and is less Republican than it was the last time around.

Continue Reading:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/09/us-usa-campaign-amash-idUSBRE89804W20121009

[catbyte]

1. I have the great misfortune of living in this douche bag's district, and while I don't hold out much

hope that this SOB will be defeated, I am still doing what I can to help the effort. I wish yard signs told the tale because they're about 2:1 Pestka in the Greater Grand Rapids area, except this HUGE Amash sign in some bagger's yard on Fuller near Plainfield that I have the displeasure of passing every afternoon as I'm returning home from work. I am thankful he's not my neighbor--he's got this colossal Amash sign that's adorned on the sides with "Take Our Country Back in 2012" along with Pete Hoekstra signs, etc. What's hilarious is that almost every other house on the block has a Pestka yard sign in it. That Block Party must be fun, lol.

Perhaps I've lived in southwest lower Michigan too long, but I will be shocked if Amash is defeated because Republicans would vote for a cadaver if it had an (R) after its name. However, there are a lot of Republicans who really dislike Amash and are campaigning for Pestka. I much preferred Pestka's primary opponent, Trevor Thomas, but he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell around these here parts. He is a young, gay, liberal son of parents who are active in public unions and he was once an intern in Jennifer Granholm's Office. She campaigned quite hard for him, but he's just a little too liberal for GR. Steve Pestka would have been a Republican 30 years ago, definitely a Blue Dog but light years better than Amash. That man is whacked out.

It will be an interesting race, though.

[catbyte]

2. Oh one thing I left out. Folks weren't too thrilled that Amash co-wrote that DC Abortion Ban bill.

WTF does that have to do with the home district here in MI? It went over like a lead balloon, so I hope people remember the craptastic stuff he's pulled since 2010 and vote him out. He makes my skin crawl almost as much as Romney does.