The Battle Creek Enquirer endorses Sharon Renier for Congress in the 7th District, the first major newspaper endorsement for her.

Below, they write:

In the 7th Congressional District, we wish we could be writing an enthusiastic endorsement for a moderate politician with a keen intellect and a thorough grasp of national and international issues. But U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz was defeated in the August Republican primary, leaving district voters with a choice on the far left or the far right of the political spectrum.

Given that choice, we endorse Democrat Sharon Renier, an organic farmer and paralegal who is campaigning on a platform of more jobs and better health care and education. We agree with Renier in her views that the federal government has overstepped its bounds in the surveillance of its citizens and is failing to uphold their constitutional rights.

Her opponent, former Republican legislator Tim Walberg, has taken many stands with which we disagree, including making President Bush's tax cuts permanent and instituting other tax reductions, drilling for oil in pristine areas to achieve national energy independence, deporting all illegal aliens, eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and more.

On the issue of Iraq, Renier thinks the United States needs to secure Baghdad and withdraw its troops, then help Iraqis to rebuild their nation and economy. Walberg believes U.S. troops should not leave until Iraq's democratic government is able to defend itself and its citizens.

Ultimately, we think Renier would represent the Battle Creek area better than Walberg, whose campaign has been heavily financed by out-of-district interests to whom we think, if elected, he would be more beholden than to his constituents.

The Enquirer has a circulation of nearly 25,000, so plenty of voters in the all-important Calhoun County will see this. Obviously it wasn't an enthusiastic endorsement-- they had been hoping for native son Joe Schwarz. But it's certainly a big gain for Renier, especially coming after the non-endorsements for Walberg in the Ann Arbor News and the Detroit Free Press, and the Detroit News endorsing the Libertarian.

Labels: 2006 Election