Examiner.com articles on the election results, part 1

Time for the first pair of articles recapping the election results.

Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell has beaten incumbent Representative Mark Driskell for State House.
Credit: Gretchen Driskell for State Representative Facebook page.

Driskell wins close election to Michigan House

At 9:01 on the morning of election day, Representative Mark Ouimet exhorted the fans of his campaign's Facebook page to do their civic duty.

"Election Day is here! Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this campaign! I now only ask one more thing from you- vote!"

Vote they did, but not enough for Ouimet to be re-elected.

I'm very pleased by this result. It makes up for the bad taste in my mouth after Ouimet won in 2010. Also, with the election of Driskell and Adam Zemke, Washtenaw County is now represented by only Democrats in the Michigan House.

John Dingell has been elected to Congress for a record 30th term.
U.S. Congress (Wikipedia/Public Domain)

Dingell, Walberg earn easy wins

Last night, the two U.S. Representatives whose districts include Washtenaw County cruised to victory.

John Dingell, whose new 12th Congressional District represents Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Willow Run in addition to the southwestern and downriver portions of Wayne County, handily defeated challenger Cynthia Kallgren to return to Washington, D.C., for his 30th term.

Tim Walberg, whose 7th Congressional District encompasses the rural northern, western, and southern parts of Washtenaw County, beat back a challenge from Kurt Haskell to return for a third term.

Dingell will now become the longest serving U.S. Representative ever.

As for Walberg, maybe next time. I have already been thinking ahead until then, as I posted over at Michigan Liberal.

"I don't think she was a good candidate, but Haskell is far, far worse than Sharon Reiner."

That's saying something. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to writing his political obituary, and I mean that literally. I'm the Washtenaw County Elections 2010 Examiner and his race is one I'm covering. As soon as he won the primary, I wrote him off.

"For this district, I'm not sure of the exact politician that should be ran, but the archetype has to be a Dem based out of Jackson, if only because it gives them a fundraising base."

That's what Ruben Marquez is, and he lost the primary to Haskell. What about Jackson Mayor Martin Griffin?

Also, there are other places for a fundraising base, such as Monroe (although that's where Haskell's from), the Washtenaw County cities of Saline (Gretchen Driskell, anyone?) and Chelsea (the current Mayor looks like a Republican, but former State House Rep. Pam Byrnes lives nearby), Adrian (the Lenawee County Commissioner who represents the east side of the city, Karol "KZ" Bolton, is a Democrat), and Eaton County (State Representative Theresa Abed).

And you're right; this district is competitive. The Democrats just need the right candidate.

Here's to recruiting a better candidate in 2014. If the Democrats can't, I might just run. You read it here first.