Watching this ad running in MI-11 (parts of Oakland and Wayne counties west and northwest of Detroit) you'd think the DCCC was getting ready to take back the district. Forget it! The ad is being run by a far right nut group, Freedom's Defense Fund. I'll get back to them in a second. First, the fighting 11th. When Obama ran in 2008, the 11th gave him a big win over McCain: he carried the 11th by 11 points; not a landslide but the kind of victory MI-11 was giving Democrats. The incumbent congressman, Thaddeus McCotter-- later charged with a variety of election fraud charges and forced to resign-- was nervous and the Republican-controlled legislature responded to his colitis problem by excising Democratic towns like Belleville, Westland and Redford from the district and larding it up with some trashy GOP areas from central and eastern Oakland County. The district's PVI went from an R+1 to an R+4 overnight. And where the old boundaries gave Obama an 11 point win, under the new boundaries he would have only won 50-48% against McCain. In 2012 he lost the district 52-47%. And a tea bagging Reindeer rancher and crooked developer, Kerry Bentivolio, was elected 51-44%, primarily because Steve Israel hates Muslims and refused to allow the DCCC to give any assistance whatsoever to Dr. Syed Taj, the Democratic candidate.
Meanwhile, the Michigan and the Beltway Republican establishments are embarrassed as hell to have a babbling imbecile like Bentivolio representing the district and they have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other Republican Party subsidiaries helping to finance a nasty primary by the gentleman described in the ad above, of whom we've written before. Trott is very wealthy-- foreclosing and evicting pay well apparently-- and has already raised $1,099,084 to Bentivolio's $337,190. As of December 31, Bentivolio had $130,133 cash on hand and Trott was already sitting on $710,729. There are also two weak Democrats in the race, Bobby McKenzie (a national security state hack recruited by Steve Israel), who raised $106,826 and Dr. Anil Kumar, who raised $318,780.
Like I said above, the ad is being run by Freedom's Defense Fund, a right-wing crackpot outfit, which spent last cycle on behalf of two far right extremists, Louie Gohmert and Trent Franks. They backed Santorum for president. This year they've only spent on Steve Lonegan in New Jersey and on Bentivolio. There other candidates this year are Annette Bosworth, the lunatic fringe candidate opposing Republican Mike Rounds in South Dakota; Paul Broun in Georgia; Ryan Zinke the teabagger, in the Montana House race; Gohmert again (who has no viable opponent); and Tom Emmer, the most extreme of the 4 Republicans hoping to replace and replicate Michele Bachmann in MN-06.
So far and it looks like the ad cost them just under $7,000 to make. They bought $15,283 worth of TV running between March 12 and March 21, not enough to make any kind of an impression whatsoever. They donated $10,000 directly to Bentivolio. And so far, this cycle they spent $1,233,210 on fundraising… so they are clearly a racket making themselves money by bilking their donors, most of whom are retired seniors. Go Bentivolio! The race in MI-11 is likely to be one of the least relevant races anywhere in America. It should be fun(ny) watching. Unless someone serious jumps in on the Democratic side-- someone like Nancy Skinner, who ran before redistricting in MI-09, a part that is now in MI-11. But could a dream candidate like that actually enter the race? Labor would love it no doubt, but is she too progressive for Wall Street shills like Steve Israel and his cronies who are still pushing that ridiculous former CIA agent who refuses to discuss issues?
