Tuesday's Democratic primary is a bit different this time around for veteran Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.
Not only has his working-class congressional district been redrawn to include the ivory towers of the University of Michigan, the new map put him into the same district with another incumbent, Rep. Lynn Rivers, who wasn't even born until the year after he was first elected to the House in 1955.
The race highlights Tuesday's primary elections in Michigan, Kansas and Missouri, which also will see former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan's widow, Jean, running in her own right for the nomination for the U.S. Senate seat to which her husband was elected posthumously.
The choice in Michigan's 15th Congressional District will be a tough one: Dingell and Rivers agree on most issues. There were suggestions earlier this year that Dingell, 76, step aside and allow Rivers, 45, a former teenage mother who drives to campaign events in a red Mustang, to win the Democratic nomination, with the promise that if the Democrats recapture the majority in the House in November, Dingell would be elected speaker. Dingell turned down the offer.
Rivers talks up her personal life on the campaign trail, something Dingell is reluctant to do, hammering instead at the question of who would be more effective representing the district. Rivers, who has spent eight years in the House, is considered a backbencher while Dingell pushes into the fray, championing the interests of the auto industry and union workers.
One issue where the two candidates differ is gun control. Dingell is a former board member of the National Rifle Association while Rivers backs gun control and has the support of activist Sarah Brady, the wife of former White House press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot in an assassination attempt against former President Ronald Reagan.
The Democratic primary race in suburban Detroit's 12th Congressional District has been marred by anti-Semitic remarks. State Rep. William Callahan allegedly said incumbent Democrat Sandor Levin, the brother of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., could not possibly represent the redrawn district adequately because he is Jewish rather than Christian. Callahan said his remarks were taken out of context.
Michigan's Democratic primary for governor pits former Gov. James Blanchard against Rep. David Bonior and Attorney General Jennifer Granholm.
There is no love lost between Blanchard and Bonior and late in the campaign, Blanchard alleged the congressman accepted campaign contributions from Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida with alleged ties to the Middle East terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Blanchard said Bonior should have returned the contributions saying, "This money has no place in American politics."
Granholm, 43, the first woman to seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, not only has outdone her rivals in fundraising and is seen as the leader in the three-way race, a new poll gives her the edge over the likely Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus. Incumbent Republican Gov. John Engler, the longest-serving governor in the nation, is not seeking re-election.
Polls have indicated Bonior, who rose to Democratic whip in his 26 years in the House and has been labeled the party's "pit bull," is lagging behind his two rivals. He admits he's not the flashiest of candidates but advises people not to count him out just yet.
In Kansas, voters still are undecided in the four-way Republican gubernatorial primary, the winner of which will face state Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary and already has amassed a $2 million war chest for November.
The latest Mason-Dixon poll, released last Wednesday, showed 20 percent of likely voters in the Republican primary still undecided. Long-time Wichita Mayor Bob Knight has a slight edge going into Tuesday's balloting, with 32 percent of those polled saying they would vote for him, followed by state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger with 27 percent, state Senate President David Kerr with 16 percent and Dan Bloom with 3 percent.
The same poll, which had an error rate of 4 percent, gave Sibelius a double-digit lead over each of her possible GOP opponents. Knight shrugged off Sibelius' showing, saying she hasn't been subjected to the criticism inherent in a contested race.
The primary battle has been dominated by attack ads. Knight refers to his rivals as "part of the capital gang," responsible for everything wrong in the state. Shallenburger has been campaigning on a "no tax increase" platform, laying himself open to charges of political posturing and of being anti-education.
In Missouri, Carnahan, 68, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after her dead husband defeated now-Attorney General John Ashcroft, says she's just doing what her husband would have wanted her to do.
Carnahan faces token opposition in the Democratic primary for the Senate, and in November will face likely Republican challenger Jim Talent, 45, who served in the House from 1984 to 2000 and is seen as the front-runner in the five-way GOP primary. He fell just 20,000 votes short of becoming governor in 2000.
Political observers say voters already are making up their minds about the coming general election contest and the two candidates already are squaring off in television ads. A new survey by Carnahan's pollster shows her 11 points ahead of Talent, while Talent's polling data puts him ahead by 4 points.
