For those who don’t remember: last week retiring Michigan Rep. Dale Kildee was accused of child molestation. The counter-accusation was that this was politically motivated and directed by the Republican party; which – even if you’re the sort who would believe that sort of thing – should still come across as odd, given that a) Kildee was retiring and b) Kildee’s seat wasn’t particularly being targeted anyway. But possibly that counter-accusation had the right idea… but just the wrong party?
For Democrats, one of the biggest questions is whether the accusations that have blasted through national news will do any damage to the campaign of the congressional candidate who shares Kildee’s name — his nephew, Dan Kildee.
Dan Kildee is – at the moment – the only declared Democratic candidate for the seat. Honestly, his shared last name shouldn’t make a difference, but as Jim Geraghty noted, politics isn’t always rational. But a Democratic own-goal in the primary would be: 2010 was a bad year for the Democrats in Michigan, with losses in their State Senate and flips in their House of Representatives and the executive branch. Would a reliably Democratic House seat with no incumbent would be worth a judiciously-aimed hit against the ostensible primary frontrunner?
You tell me.
Moe Lane
No.