Conyers, Dingell to Run Again

Representative John Conyers announced today that he intends to seek a twenty fifth term in Congress in the 2012 election. This was not an unexpected move, as it fits hand in glove with the fact that John Dingell, the only member of Congress around longer than Conyers, is going for re-election as well.

These liberal lions should surely win wherever they're put, but as likely as not what they are doing is, basically, staking claims to two of the seats which will almost certainly be kept by the Democrats even after redistricting. Seeing as the GOP will control the redrawing of Congressional districts, it is expected that two Democrats will be pitted against each other somewhere, somehow.

It is doubtful that the Republicans would even try to oust one or the other of either Conyers or Dingell, or shuffle them into the same district. The outcry against such a tactic would be too shrill. Nor should Conyers expect to be challenged by the newly elected Hansen Clarke, who holds the state's other minority seat. With those three seats presumably safe, it is most likely that an outstate Democrat will effectively go on the chopping block, or at least have to run against a Republican in what will surely be an area carved out to the GOP's benefit.

The outcome will be interesting but not surprising. Michigan will probably gain one Republican seat when all is said and done. It is another worry that the Democrats must face in the next elections. They should not have hacked off so many folks with their political over-reaching pf the last two years. They are paying the price.