In August of 2006, a man named Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) defeated incumbent Congressman Joe Schwarz (R-Battle Creek) in the Republican primary. Those that live in Michigan's 7th District may remember the vicious primary campaign, in which Walberg-- funded by the Club for Growth and other radical right-wing groups-- destroyed the name and good work of a dedicated public servant. Schwarz was conservative, but he was honest and hard-working, and was one of the few "good" Republicans left. And Tim Walberg, a former far-right minister, attacked Schwarz without mercy.

A few days after the primary, I started a blog called Walberg Watch. Originally hosted on Blogspot, I wanted to create an online record of Walberg's extreme positions as the 2006 election approached, facing the terribly underfunded Democratic nominee Sharon Renier. Walberg won that election by just four percent, and I found myself with a new blogging mission: following Tim Walberg's adventure through what will hopefully be his only term in the United States House of Representatives.

Over the last two years, a lot has changed, with much of it building toward the re-launch at the new www.WalbergWatch.com. Below the fold, I'd like to walk you through some of the additions to Walberg Watch. I'm excited by what we can accomplish in the next 126 days as we work to bring about better representation. I hope that by the time you're done reading this, you are too.

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Two weeks ago, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) expressed an interest in joining the field of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination against far-right incumbent Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Tipton). After two weeks of rumors and discussions of his possible candidacy comes this news out of Michigan's 7th District, from the AP:

  LANSING, Mich. (AP) - State Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer said Thursday he will seek the Democratic nomination to challenge freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg in the 2008 election after declining earlier overtures to enter the race.

  "Tim Walberg is not doing the job," Schauer told The Associated Press on Thursday. "He is serving a very narrow interest. He's really been a servant of the Bush-Cheney administration and the extreme special interests in Washington."

I heard the news early this afternoon. Around 2 PM I received a phone call, and 45 minutes later, Senator Schauer visited Walberg Watch, the blog I started to cover the race. He wanted to discuss his decision with me, my fellow bloggers, and the readers of the blog.

Read what Senator Schauer had to say and more in the extended entry...

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I'm not interested in your candidate. Really, I'm not. I'm not interested in the presidential race.

Don't get me wrong. I care about it and the future of the country. I have my own preferences among the Democratic candidates. But I'm not interested in that race right now. It's dull compared to something much, much more exciting.

Yes, I'm talking about the Michigan 7th Congressional District!

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Many will remember that on August 8th, faux-GOP moderate Congressman Joe Schwarz was defeated in the Republican primary by Tim Walberg. Walberg is a fundamentalist preacher, funded and endorsed by the Club for Growth, the Minuteman PAC, Right to Life, James Dobson, and a host of other far-right organizations.

The Democratic nominee is Sharon Marie Renier. She's kind of quirky and ran an unimpressive campaign in 2004 against Joe Schwarz, losing by 22 percent in a district that went 45 percent to Kerry. To be fair, Schwarz was a popular moderate and well-funded. The fact that Renier got what she did-- with a budget of just a few thousand dollars-- is almost impressive.

This year, some speculation followed Walberg's victory on whether or not Renier could make the race competitive, but without polling data, no one could be sure. That all changed, with the release of the first public poll on the race:

MI-07 - M.o.E. +/-4.0% - Conducted Oct. 6-7 by Glengariff Group, Inc.

Tim Walberg (R) - 43%
Sharon Renier (D) - 35%
Undecided - 22%

More in the Extended Entry...

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Cross-posted on Walberg Watch.

In August, far-right, Club for Growth-sponsored Republican challenger Tim Walberg defeated quasi-moderate Republican Joe Schwarz in the Michigan 7th District primary. It was a vicious primary, sparking an FEC complaint.

Now, the race is between Republican Walberg and Democratic nominee Sharon Renier. When Tim Walberg was looking for a fundraising boost, what did he do? He invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a fundraising lunch that, technically speaking, wasn't even in Michigan's 7th Congressional District.

Who attended? I don't know, but they must have really loved Tim Walberg and Dick Cheney, 'cause it was pretty expensive lunch:

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