2010 Midterms: MI-13

Much is being said about the up-coming mid-term elections. And as pendulums tend to swing, I expect that at the end of the night Republicans will have made some gains in congress. However, the landslides predicted by the slew of FOX Re-pundit-icans I just don't see happening. Nothing they show can be trusted, because they will stop at nothing to create a sense of hype. And it's a shame really. Given their siamese twin relationship with the ever entertaining Tea Party movement, the leading source of conservative news is really just a propaganda machine. And rumor has it that the Tea Party movement itself has hit it's zenith back in February with it's first and only "National Convention" in Nashville. 600 were slated to attend the event according to organizers, although in the end not everyone showed up. A quote from the Washington Post at the time stated that "scores more" of wannabe attendees were "turned away". Remember a score is 20, and you get beyond say four score, you stop using the term score and speak instead in terms of hundreds. So, at best, 680 people were up to attend...let's see that's something like 0.0000017894% of the United States' population. In fact, it's not even one hundredth's of one percent of the population of Nashville! Ergo, it's NOTHING. The Tea Party's second national convention was slated for mid July in Las Vegas, but was cancelled for lack of interest, or as their spokesperson said, "The heat in Las Vegas in July is keeping many who would like to participate from attending"--since when has the heat kept anyone away from Las Vegas!?--and "We have also received numerous emails from people who were forced to decide between family vacations and attending the convention." Well, when it comes to saving America, you've just got to have your priorities.

All this to say, things are still wide open as far as I can see. And I'm looking.

Yet one thing, at least, is now abundantly clear, the people of Michigan's 13th congressional district are about to elect the first Bangledeshi-American to the United States congress. And why not? The candidate is state Senator Hansen Clarke, a very popular state legislator and life long resident of the 13th district which includes the heart of the city of Detroit.

Last week, Hansen ousted incumbent 13 term representative Carolyn Kirkpatrick, a veritable institution in Detroit politics. Kirkpatrick was gracious in conceding her defeat and pledged to work to serve the people of the district. Vulnerable, due to her associate with her son, the defrocked former mayor of Detroit who's legal woes could very likely land him in prison, the people turned to Hansen a smart, effective, and constituency oriented politician.

And what's more interesting, he's also an artist.

This work takes on the iconic sculpture and symbol of the motor city entitled The Spirit of Detroit and rechristens it The New Spirit of Detroit, featuring a health black woman as it's subject versus the original's neo-classical Greek God. More fitting even is the fact that Hansen, like so many men in America's urban settings was raise by his mother alone, after the death of his father at age 3.

I'm not willing to predict much at this point about the mid-term elections, but I am will to call this one in favor of Hansen Clarke.