To start this post, I'd like to say there's no particular reason I've been mentioning so many Jackson Citizen-Patriot articles lately, except that they've been doing a great job reporting on this race. In fact, I'd like to say that I've been impressed throughout the entire campaign by the Citizen-Patriot, the Battle Creek Enquirer, and (especially during the primary) Adrian's Daily Telegram. These papers have been leading the way for local journalism.

As the Jackson Citizen-Patriot reports today, the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce held the "Party Politics mixer," highlighting Republican gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVos (Granholm didn't attend) and the two major-party candidates for the 7th Congressional District, Tim Walberg (R) and Sharon Renier (D).

Just to be clear, this wasn't an overwhelmingly Democratic event. In an unscientific straw poll held, DeVos defeated Granholm 54 percent to 44 percent among the 400 people that attended. So imagine my excitement when I read this:

Both 7th District U.S. House candidates were on hand.

In the straw poll, Sharon Renier, D-Munith, squeaked past Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, 48 percent to 47 percent. An uncommissioned poll this month gave Walberg an 8-point lead.

(Emphasis added)

Renier defeats Walberg! Not only that, but she was 4 percent ahead of Governor Granholm, the top Democrat on this year's ballot.

It's not a final result, of course, but it shows that November 7th is going to be an exciting night. My prediction: Somebody is going to be very surprised. Beyond that, I can't say.

Also: If you're in the eastern portion of the 7th District, some comments might be of interest to you.

Carol K. said:

I got polled yesterday evening. The questions were about Governor and Congress. I don't think they even asked about Senatorial. The call came from US Field Research or that's what my phone picked up - 801-226-1911. I'm in Chelsea. There are Renier signs starting to pop up. We're on Main St / M52, and we've been looking to get a sign. We have great exposure. I've noted the tendency of local Republicans to only endorse Ouimet for Commissioner, and no one else for anything.

The entire comment is important-- and I hope that the poll is public sometime soon. But I've bolded the portion relevant to the next comment, by mich:

carol k i live in adrian & if you need Sharon Renier yard signs e-mail me at lenaweeadrian[at]yahoo.com anyone else that also need yard signs feel free to email me as well

I haven't hyperlinked the e-mail address and you'll have to replace "[at]" with "@", since I don't want to make it too easy for the spam bots to target that e-mail address. If you want a sign before Election Day, now's your chance!

Labels: 2006 Election