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By RightMichigan.com Posted in Assisted Suicide | Congress | Congress | Dr. Death | Gary Peters | Jack Kevorkian | Joe Knollenberg | Michigan — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

My first instinct was to fire off an email to Congressman Knollenberg's press staff asking if they'd already scheduled a party to celebrate the news.  So I did.  I'll let you know if I ever hear back but I'll admit up front that I don't expect I'll ever receive a reply.

The Oakland Press reports this morning that the campaign for Michigan's 9th Congressional seat welcomed one more participant yesterday, and a big name at that.  Apparently the Governor was so disillusioned with the (surprisingly) poor performance of her hand picked candidate, yoooooouuuuuuuuurrrrr former Lottery Commissioner, Gary Peters, that she went out and found another champion to carry the banner for the left (/speculation).

Sure he's 80 years old in May, frail, prone to go weeks without eating, a lunatic, legally prohibited from leaving the State and a convicted murderer... but why should that stop anyone from voting for him?  And the sad part is, for many it won't.

Peters will now have to contend for the liberal vote with none other than one Mr. Jack Kevorkian.  Or, as the Michigan Department of Corrections likes to refer to him, Parolee Number 284797.  

It appears Dr. Death recently picked up the petition forms and will begin campaigning in the coming days.

Kevorkian said he would have more to say about his candidacy next week. "Everything's in a formative stage," he said.

Kevorkian, a Pontiac native now living in south Oakland County, will have to gather a minimum of 3,000 signatures on nominating petitions by July 17 to appear as an independent on the November ballot, the Michigan Secretary of State's office said.

Now look, I'm not trying to do Gary Peters any favors here but it shouldn't be terribly difficult to prevent the nut-job from eroding his extreme-leftist base.  In fact, all he has to do is remind folks of his own record.  You'd be hard pressed to find a public figure anywhere in Michigan who's taken a more consistent and public pro-suicide and pro-death stance on Kevorkian's issues than Gary Peters.  And I know you can't actually out death Dr. Death without murdering a few dozen people yourself but darn it all if Peters can't make the argument!

Heck, back in the 90s Gary Peters was Jack Kevorkian's chief defender in the Michigan Legislature.  The Michigan Review quotes then State Senator Peters while discussing his pro-suicide legislation:

"People may not like the man. They may not like his methods, but they do believe it is a right they would like to have," he said.

And Peters did his best to give it to them... to us.  Now he's got to run a race against his mentor.  That can't be easy on him.  

The only tricky part for Kevorkian is figuring out how to get around that whole parole business.  See, he's not permitted to leave the State of Michigan before June 1, 2009.  If he were to win a seat in Congress he'd start in January of that year.  Then again, the law didn't stop the kook from murdering dozens of people across the United States.  Why would it prevent him from taking a little road trip?

Meanwhile Peters has to be worried.  He's running against a man who survived a popular, attractive, well spoken challenger in 2006 amidst an electoral tsunami that swept the Democrats to power nationwide.  Still, it's a real "opportunity" for the left.  It's a winnable seat.

Knollenberg won with 51.5 percent of the vote two years ago.  There's not a lot of margin for error on either side.  Peters last bid for public office fell short by 5,200 votes.  That's one vote per precinct.  

If Dr. Death makes the ballot it'd be shocking if he didn't pull at least that sort of vote-to-precinct ratio and ladies and gentlemen, those aren't Knollenberg voters.  That's Peters' base.  But don't worry, Gary.  You've still got a chance.  It's nothing to kill yourself over.