By Peter J. Smith
DEARBORN, Michigan, October 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Democrat Congressman John Dingell is the longest current serving member in the U.S. Congress, but a shocking poll shows that the author of the House version of health care reform is trailing a pro-life GOP opponent for the first time in his almost 55-year-long legislative career.
Dingell represents the 15th Michigan District, a Democrat stronghold based in Dearborn and Detroit suburbs, where working class Democrats have always returned Dingell to office since 1955 – when he won a special election to fill his deceased father’s seat – with hefty margins.
Only once, during the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress, did Dingell poll beneath 60 percent – at 59 percent.
Now an independent poll shows pro-life Ann Arbor cardiologist Rob Steele beating the 84-year-old incumbent by a small margin in the district. This is raising alarm bells for national Democrats that 2010 could be a far worse electoral year for them than the 1994 “Republican Revolution.”
The Detroit Free Press reports that the GOP’s Steele leads Dingell in this race by four points, 43.8 percent to 39.5 percent. Just 11 percent remain undecided in this poll, which has a +/- 5.6 percent margin of error. Steele is running on the GOP ticket against Dingell and is endorsed by Michigan Right to Life.
Dingell’s campaign has denounced the poll as GOP-motivated number crunching, but the Free Press reports that the poll was a joint effort of two firms with very different political leanings: the CEO of Team TelCom has Republican ties, while the CEO of the Rossman Group has Democratic ones.
“The Dean of the House will be tough to beat, but these numbers show that at this point, even The Dean is not immune to the anger that is brewing with the electorate,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, CEO of the Rossman Group.
The Congressman himself indicated a month ago that he knew he was in trouble, even as the latest polls showed him leading Steele by almost 20 points.
A fundraising letter leaked by Politico showed Dingell was requesting his backers to make “your maximum financial contribution to my campaign” this year. He cited an internal GOP poll circulated by Steele’s camp, showing the pro-life challenger was within just a few points of Dingell.
Politico reported at the time that the latest available campaign finance records showed Dingell had about seven times the cash in his war chest as his opponent. Dingell had $904,000 raised by mid-July, while Steele was only surpassing the $116,000 mark.
According to the Cook Political Report, Democrats have only 141 solid seats, and are stretched thin trying to defend about 115 seats that are in play this year against the surging Republicans.
Dingell, the Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the primary author of HR 3200, the first House draft of its version of health care reform. He also voted to approve the final Senate version, which has remained very unpopular nationally.
The octogenarian famously told a local radio program soon after the final March 21, 2010 health care vote in the House that the newly enacted Affordable Care Act, called ObamaCare by its critics, aims to “control the people.”
During a contentious summer season of town hall meetings, Dingell had an explosive confrontation with Michigander Mike Sola, who wheeled his 36-year-old son, Scott, who suffers with cerebral palsy, demanding why his son would not be covered under the health-insurance plan. (see coverage)
Sola could be heard making references to statements by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama’s health policy advisor, that real cost-cutting would be made only by rationing health-care treatment away from the elderly and disabled to the more physically fit, and that anything else was “'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Obamacare 'Absolutely' Played Role in Catholic Hospital Sale: Scranton CEO
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10101202.html
Pro-Abortion Obama Sinks to New Low in Public Opinion Survey
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10100502.html
Underdog GOP Pro-Lifer Dino Rossi now Polling Ahead in Washington Senate Race
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10101104.html
Nevada: GOP’s Pro-Life Angle Builds Lead, while Harry Reid Crumbles in Polls
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10100705.html
AUL Action “Life Counts Campaign” Targets ObamaCare’s Pro-Life Dems
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10100507.html