NRCC Looking Beyond Walberg
He may be a former member of Congress, but national GOPers aren't terribly thrilled with the prospects of Tim Walberg (R) running for his old seat.
The NRCC reached out to retired Marine Maj. Brian Rooney (R), an atty and brother of Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), to encourage him to get in the race, according to the MI political wire MIRS and analyst Susan Demas.
Walberg is a member of the GOP's Young Guns program for promising challengers, but he strikes some as too conservative for the district. He beat centrist Rep. Joe Schwarz (R) in the GOP primary in '06, but lost the seat 2 years later to Rep. Mark Schauer (D).
But simply reaching out to Rooney is not a complete repudiation of Walberg: 2 top NRCC officials, chair Pete Sessions (R-TX) and recruiting captain Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), have been taking road trips to districts to meet with potential candidates, and in many cases they have two or three good prospects considering or already in a race. They'll talk to anyone interested in a run, they insist.
NRCC spokesman Tom Erickson told Hotline OnCall that the party is not getting involved in the primary, and that GOPers believe both Walberg and Rooney can beat Schauer.
Still, we've heard rumblings that local GOPers are not terribly enthusiastic about a Walberg re-run, and bitterness between the Walberg and Schwarz factions of the local party could give Rooney an opening. Rooney is no moderate, but those voters may be more inclined to back him over Walberg.
And imagine the situation in which the NRCC finds itself: They have a former member and close ally of the Club for Growth matched up with a current member's brother. No one can envy the pressure the NRCC is receiving.
(REID WILSON)
Many whom do not know Tim Walberg shall need to take a closer look. He has real leadership values, the public in Michigan DOES support him and for any "spin doctors" that want to write some half baked articles like this one needs to get out in the trenches and find out the reality. Each and every single person I personally know is going to want to see Tim Walberg get his place in Congress back, and Mark Schauer is a joke. Mark refuses to listen to what the voters have had to say, he only does what his "party" instructs him to do and lately the VOTERS need the voice. That voice to be for us is Tim Walberg.