Michigan Primary Results: Throw The Bums Out!

The outcome of the Aug. 3 primary elections in Michigan underscores the white hot anti-incumbent mood in the U.S. electorate.

First there was the defeat of Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, the sixth incumbent Congressperson to be kicked out by the electorate this season. Kilpatrick, who is serving her seventh term, was defeated by a margin of 47 to 41% by state legislator Hansen Clarke. While some are attributing her loss to the ongoing legal problems of her son, former Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick, she overcame those problems during the 2008 primaries. But not today.

Even more devastating was the defeat of Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon in the race for the Democratic party nomination for Governor. Virg Bernero, nicknamed the "angry Mayor" of Lansing, defeated Dillon by a margin of 59% to 41%, in a super-populist campaign, in which Bernero was strongly endorsed by labor. Tensions ran so high that the Democrats felt compelled to call a "unity breakfast" today—which, it appears, Dillon declined to attend.

The Republican gubernatorial race saw the defeat of nine-term Congressman Pete Hoekstra, a Cheneyac Republican, by super-rich businessman Rick Snyder. In a crowded field, Snyder came in with 36% to Hoekstra's 27%.

Hoekstra was the fourth House member who, after abandoning their seat, went down to defeat in the primaries. Hoekstra attributed his loss in large part to the hatred of Congress. "People hate Congress," he said. "It was a hurdle that had to be overcome, or it was some baggage that you had to carry."