Blogger Roundtable: Benishek Blogger Weekly, 7/7/10

Dan Benishek is running for Congress in Michigan’s first Congressional District. He has been gracious enough to make himself available for what I hope will be an ongoing weekly discussion with bloggers and other interested media types about the state of his campaign, his thoughts on the news of the day, and his upcoming plans on where he’s headed.

The conference call began with a few words from Dr. Dan, focusing primarily on his newly released TV ad which is centered around his most recent message: The 4 R’s (Read it. Reduce it. Repeal it. Reform it.) It’s a good message, and a well-done ad…and the callers all told him so.

Benishek went on to explain how and why he decided to get into this race in the first place. He told us he was out with friends doing a little ice fishing around the time the Stimulus bill was passed, and he just couldnt believe our politicians could PASS such a bill…especially knowing that none of them actually even read it first. He decided then that enough was enough and that he was going to step up to the plate and try to get to Washington to DO something about it. Such is the nature of Benishek’s attitude about the state of governance coming from Capitol Hill these days.

On how he’s doing with donations, Benishek says he’s holding up well, but that more dollars will go a lot farther in getting his name and his message out across the whole of the Upper Peninsula.

On how he’s doing in the campaign against his opponent, he laughed and said that no one had seen his opponent anywhere on the road or around the Upper Peninsula…so he must be doing better than the other guy.

I got to sneak in a quick question on his thoughts about Steele having to cut back on GOTV money from the RNC to individual campaigns, and his campaign manager quickly suggested that this was actually good news for Dr. Dan. Dan followed up with this:

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get some of that money but if it means I have to change my message or be co-opted by them into saying or doing things that go against my principles and what I stand for…well, I’ll go it alone. Win or lose, I’m running for office specifically because I believe we need change in Washington. If I have to do this without their support in order to stand my ground, that’s what I’ll do.

I like this guy.

Check out his website, and consider giving him a donation or doing some volunteer work. This one’s a keeper…we have to get him a seat at the big table on Capitol Hill next January.

[Note: This post originates at 73Wire]