We're voting today in the primary in Michigan. We've got an interesting four-way sheriff's race in Midland county on the GOP side, with two current deputies, a retired deputy and a former Midland city cop in the hunt. Things can get personal on this level, as one of the candidates, Myron Greene, is very active in my sister's church.
However, I'm leaning towards Scott Stephenson. Having managed the country jail as part of his duties as a deputy gives him a heads-up on the area most likely to get a sheriff's department in trouble. Since the county just built a jail designed to be a regional center on pace to bring in $2m in revenue this year, that expertise should prove helpful.
There aren't any bad choices amongst the four, so there'll be no gnashing of teeth tomorrow at the result here.
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The GOP senate race is interesting as well, as former congressman Pete Hoekstra is up against charter school activist and Hillsdale College executive Clark Durant. Durant is running as a Tea Party friendly "rebel" and dissing Hoekstra for establishmentarian votes on TARP and debt-ceiling-raising.
This has echoes of the Grayson-Paul primary in KY two years ago that I just missed out on when we moved back to Michigan, the McConnell-backed establishmentarian versus the libertarian TPer. However, the differences aren't quite as stark, as Hoekstra is a bit more conservative that Grayson would have been.
Foreign policy hasn't been much of an issue to date, but Hoekstra's background on the intelligence committee will help him in the Senate. That's worth more than a consistent no vote on anything smelling center-left.
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Here's a passing thought on debt-ceiling votes. If someone is against a rise in the debt ceiling, they should have a balanced budget for the current fiscal year at the ready, since that is what failing to pass a debt-ceiling hike would entail. If we can't borrow more money, we need a balanced budget-"how do we get there, dude?"
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