MSU grad student chosen to run as democratic nominee
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Enderle
MSU graduate student Lance Enderle has been selected to run against Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, in Michigan’s 8th congressional district, the Michigan Democratic Party announced Wednesday.
Democratic officials were forced to choose a replacement candidate after Democratic primary winner Kande Ngalamulume registered to vote in Pennsylvania in late August, withdrawing him from the election.
The 8th congressional district includes East Lansing and MSU.
“I’m humbly honored and privileged to be able to do this,” Enderle said.
Officials chose Enderle, who is working toward a graduate degree in special education at MSU, because of the efforts he took to launch an aggressive write-in campaign during the summer, said Livingston County Democratic chair Judy Daubenmier.
“He had been working very hard to get the nomination and he was ready to hit the ground running,” Daubenmier said. “He’s going to be running a grassroots campaign, not hiding in Washington.”
Enderle said his goal is to meet as many voters as possible before Nov. 2 through door-to-door campaigning, social media and public and community events.
“We’re going to bring it right to the people and the communities,” Enderle said. “Friday nights are going to be high school football nights. On Saturdays, every community has something going on we can be a part of. And Monday through Friday, we’re going to be knocking on doors.”
Three main issues Enderle will focus on throughout his campaign are improving the economy, education and the environment — topics he said are all intertwined. He said he plans to work to bring environmentally-friendly, industrious jobs to the state.
“There’s no reason Michigan can’t be leading the way in green jobs, the same way we led in the auto industry,” he said.
If Enderle wins the election, the first issue he plans to tackle is repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. He also wants to address the lack of funding for public and higher education, something he understands firsthand from teaching.
“I’ve gone to college, I’ve got two kids in college and I’m a master’s student myself,” Enderle said. “We need to do more to make college tuition more affordable.”
John Tramontana, a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, said he is confident that Enderle will be able to attract voters in November.
“We’re very excited to have Lance on board,” Tramontana said.
“Mike Rogers has a terrible record representing the 8th district, as far as representing working people.”
Jennifer Hoff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Republican Party, said Rogers will win his re-election, regardless of the Democratic candidate.
“He’s always been there talking to the district, and he will continue to do that and to fight against the liberal policies of Nancy Pelosi,” Hoff said.
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That's nice but...
(09/05/10 11:12pm)Report
How exactly does he plan on tackling those issues?
Let’s put things into perspective. DOW’s opening up a new solar facility in Midland(?) but that adds…30 jobs to the climate. How many “green” jobs does he expect could be brought here given the current state of the State, and how much of a demand is there for these “industrious jobs” he advocates? I’m not saying that it couldn’t work for Michigan, but it’s really a numbers game and the demand has to be there for the services this industry will render. “Green” is becoming a dangerous buzzword. While it can certainly be a part of our industry, we’d do ourselves a disservice by exaggerating its impact for no other reason than it’s the cause-du-jour.
NAFTA? Really? Even if you kill that policy, that doesn’t mean jobs come to Michigan. In fact, I’d wager they went South or to our neighbors before they came here given the business climate. What’s his take on the Michigan Turnaround Plan?
Safe bet: he’s a Democrat and he didn’t even think of it. He’s following in Bernero’s footsteps of pipedreams and flashbacks from the 1950s where people were making an engineer’s wage by screwing in bolts.
Perhaps someone affiliated with his campaign can shed some light on his ideas.