A Reddit user who goes by the name of DrowningSink has compiled a list of potentially vulnerable politicians up for reelection in 2012, along with their voting records on controversial legislation, such as the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, which, as we’ve discussed here repeatedly, gives the government the right to imprison American citizens indefinitely, without trial. You can find the whole list here, but I’ve cut and pasted the Michigan-specific entries below. First, though, here’s a clip from DrowningSink’s introduction, which explains the PVI scores you’ll see in the third column.
…To explain how I deduced which seats were “vulnerable,” I used the Cook Partisan Voting Index, or PVI.
PVI, per Wikipedia definition, “is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole.”
“The index for each congressional district is derived by averaging its results from the prior two presidential elections and comparing them to national results. The index indicates which party’s candidate was more successful in that district, as well as the number of percentage points by which its results exceeded the national average. The index is formatted as a letter followed by a plus sign and then a number; in a district whose CPVI score is R+2, a generic Republican presidential candidates would be expected to receive 2 percentage points more votes than the national average. Likewise, a CPVI score of D+3 shows that a generic Democratic candidate would be expected to receive 3 percentage points more votes than the national average.”
In a nutshell, the higher a PVI score is, the more likely that district is to vote for that political party in the upcoming elections. Generally, any score greater than or equal to 5 (D+5, R+5) is considered a “safe” seat. For this reason, the mega-list below only contains PVI scores 4 and lower (with the exception of some incumbents who are at a significant PVI-disadvantage)…
Now, here’s the lowdown on the seven elected official from Michigan who made the list. [note: The last column just indicates co-sponsors of the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act, and its counterpart in the Senate, the Protect IP bill, not whether or not these individuals are likely to support the legislation when it comes to a vote. Given the overwhelming corporate support for the measure, though, I imagine that most of the people on this list will vote in favor of it.]
So, what do you say we get our shit together in 2012 and vote some of these sons-of-bitches out of office?
Regardless of party affiliation, can we, at the very least, all agree that we shouldn’t support politicians that would vote to destroy the cornerstone of due process upon which our nation was built?
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And I should have mentioned that I don’t know how good of a vulnerability predictor PVI is, in and of itself. It’s certainly interesting to note, but I don’t think it’s an insurmountable obstacle, as same-party candidates can be found to mount primary challenges, etc.
Speaking of Stabenow, I can give a first hand account of her deception. I met her at a fund raising reception last year. She WAS drinking from a glass with a bleeding man in it, pretty sure it was an arab. She definitely has blood on her hands!
Vote Team Hoekstra
Who do we have that could take on Stabenow? The only person I can think of with the name recognition necessary would be Michael Moore, but he’s so despised by the right, I can’t see it happening. I’d love to see some mount a credible primary challenge against her, though. We have to be able to do better.
As for Peters, I didn’t know that he voted no on the NDAA. Maybe he’s alright.
“drinking from a glass with a bleeding man in it”
Is this some kind of conservative code?
A neat website that my friend made that allows users to see how their representatives vote and how it compares to their personal vote – currently it’s in its first version: http://www.myelectedrep.com/
You too can be Tank Man at Tiananmen Square, stand up to the oppression and dictatorial rule of Debbie Stabenaw.
*I like Peter*
Vote Hoekstra
Learn more:
http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_NDAA_Bill_of_Rights_Obama.html
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2011/12/25/oath-keepers-launches-national-effort-to-recall-andor-remove-members-of-congress-who-voted-for-ndaa-military-detention-merry-christmas-u-s-congress/
I think it’s funny how you can equate voting for Hoekstra with throwing yourself in front of a Chinese tank, as though it’s an act of super heroism. The truth is, he probably would have voted for all of this shit himself if he were in Debbie’s place.
As for Stabenow’s drinking a man’s blood in the company of Arabs, my guess is that the man in question is Jesus, and the author is somehow suggesting that Debbie has sided against America’s persecuted Christian minority.
Uh oh, is Tater gone and now Hoekstroika is his replacement?
Based on this, it looks like McCotter might be on his way out. Can anyone in his district add insight? Is there a credible opponent?
Debbie wants money. I just received the following from her.
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about a critical fundraising deadline that is looming.
Let me tell you why the one at midnight tonight is so important.
In just a few days, 65 Tea Party organizations in Michigan will converge to unite behind one Republican Senate candidate. Once they do, the 2012 campaign will start in earnest and I need your help to make sure we are ready.
We are building one of the most powerful grassroots organizations in the country, but we must hit our fundraising goal at midnight tonight to succeed. We have less than 14 hours to go.
If you have been considering making a donation and joining the campaign, please take a moment and do it now.
$25, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford will ensure we have the resources to take our opponents head on, stand up for the middle class and win in the New Year.
After midnight, the books close on 2011 and there is no going back. Please take a moment and do what you can right now.
Click here to make a contribution.
Thank you for all you do and for your incredible support in 2011.
Happy New Year!
Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator
Has any credible Democrat ever talked of mounting a primary challenge against Stabenow? I can’t accept that our state does not have one person that wouldn’t be more attractive to the Michigan electorate. I’ve heard it said before that the Democratic party in Michigan is controlled by the unions. Is that the key? Are they keeping her in power?
Who want to chip in and buy Russ Feingold a house in Michigan and a one-way bus ticket?
Houses are super cheap.
Barack Obama and his “Transformation of America is to usher in Socialism and is now taking over America. There will be a huge correction beginning in November 2012.
Video #1 – http://vimeo.com/10896301
Video #2 – http://vimeo.com/11427665
Stabenow will be gone in 2013. For sure! McCotter will be re-elected…for sure!
Unions (UAW) is donating big bucks to keep Stabenow in the seat she holds. With that said, the UAW is not liked in Michigan because Jesse Jackson stands on podium with the UAW emblem and goes into his typical diatribe which conservatives in Michigan see and turns them off to anyting UAW. Just a fact!
What happened to McCotter’s presidential bid?
It looks like the people won. SOPA has been dropped. PIPA is still hanging on though. We need to keep up the pressure.
More:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/114045-the-internet-wins-sopa-has-been-shelved-but-we-must-remain-vigilant?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ziffdavis%2Fextremetech+%28Extremetech%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/
I note that supporters of SOPA include many good liberals (?) and progressives (?), e.g. Feinstein, Durbin, Franken (yes, Al Franken!) and Conyers (yes, John Conyers!). Meanwhile, SOPA is opposed by the evil Ron Paul, and son Rand.
resources/links:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA
Follow the money.
I’ve found the SOPA/PIPA information from Open Congress to be quite good. The “money trail” links are particularly useful.
http://www.opencongress.org/pipa
But, to your point, Alan, it’s not enough to make me vote for Paul that he’s right on three issues. He’s wrong on many more.
Al Franken defends his support of PIPA/SOPA:
It should also be noted that Franken took over $88,000 from the entertainment industry lobby.
http://www.buythevote.org/projects/SopaPipa/congress/al-franken–mn-senator
Carl Levin just responded to my letter. Here’s what he had to say.