It’s rather hard to argue that Rep. John Dingell is particularly vulnerable this year; he’s represented his portion of Michigan since roughly the Paleozoic Era. But from time to time in recent weeks, there were murmurs that the congressman was a bit worried, and knew he couldn’t take reelection for granted.
Now we have some numbers:
Forty-nine-point-three percent of registered voters in Michigan’s 15th congressional district said they’d choose to send the 84-year-old Dingell back to Washington, while 30.3 percent said they’d vote for Republican candidate Rob Steele.
Rob Steele has a tough climb, but like the numbers below for Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski, this is a useful indicator; in 2008, Dingell won 71 percent to 25 percent. He had no Republican opposition in 2006. He won 70.9 percent of the vote in 2004 and 72.2 percent of the vote in 2002.