Kevorkian Signatures won't translate to votes

Kevorkian has no web site and almost no money for his campaign. Unless he withdraws, it looks like he will be on the ballot, though. Peters has had strong fundraising, has a professional staff and has strong appeal, even to Republicans in the district. It's time to retire Joe Knollenberg and get America moving again.

Lessenberry thinks Kevorkian won't even get on the ballot

Jack Kevorkian sure got lots of press when he picked up forms to be on the ballot as a candidate for Congress from the 9th District of Michigan. Since then, though, cooler heads have prevailed. Now some think he may not even get the 3,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot, let alone be a real challenge for the seat.

Jack Lessenberry write in Metro Times about Dr. K's bad idea.

Fourteen years or so ago, Jack Kevorkian called me to ask a question. Someone had told him you could collect signatures and get an amendment put on the ballot to change the Michigan Constitution.

Yes, I told him. That was absolutely true. "Well, how many do you need?" he asked. I looked it up; back then it was only about 260,000.

"Is that all? Why, we can get that many in no time," he said excitedly. "I could get that many by myself." Later, he checked in again. He had never voted. Was that a problem? Well, you need to register, I said. How do you do that, he asked?

Eventually, he got himself registered, and Kevorkian and his supporters — he then had quite a few of them —went to work.

But they never got anything close to the number of signatures they needed; insiders told me that when their time expired, they had less than half that. All this came back to me last week, when naive media types reported that the mostly forgotten apostle of self-snuffitude was running for Congress. Even the hint of having Dr. Death in the House was enough to fire up the stand-ups:

Yes, indeed. He'll sure know how to kill a bill. We can't wait till we see the details on his health plan. I can't wait to see how he cuts off debate, etc., etc.

But in reality, you could almost bet the farm that he will not only fail to get elected, he won't even get on the ballot. Kevorkian, who lives in Royal Oak, just barely inside U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg's district, plans to try to get listed as an independent. That has some Democrats worried.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story

Jack Lessenbery Nails Why Kevorkian is Running for Congress

This morning I found this article by Jack Lessenberry about Dr. Death's run for Congress and why he's doing it. I think he's dead on, Kevorkian is crying out for attention and the media has sure given it to him. But Kevorkian's run is a joke and Jack lays out why.

Article published Friday, March 28, 2008
Dr. Death's run for Congress a cry for attention from forgotten man

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - So, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the man who made assisted suicide a household phrase back in the 1990s, wants to go to Congress? Everybody's first reaction was pretty much the same: We can't wait to see his health care plan … That, or: I'll bet there's a few bills lying around the House he'd really like to kill. Two things are certain: First, Kevorkian in Congress would be a full-employment guarantee for Jay Leno, Dave Letterman, and every stand-up comedian in every coffee house from here to Botswana. And, second, it isn't going to happen. Matter of fact, he almost certainly won't even get on the ballot. Reporters took his announcement far too seriously, and anyone who knows the aging, cantankerous former pathologist knows he is unlikely to have either the stamina or the stick-to-it qualities needed to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot as an independent. What his candidacy is really about, instead, is a cry for attention from someone the world has passed by, and whose quarter hour of fame was used up soon after he went to prison nine years ago.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story.

Gary Peters is out to win for us all. Kevorkian out for himself

Running as an independent, Jack Kevorkian won't win, but he could be a factor in a close race. Based on the stories in the papers yesterday, Kevorkian's only reasons for running are selfish ones. Gary Peters is out to help provide the change we need in Washington. I have no doubt Kevorkian is in to stay, given his quotes in the stories I've seen. I also believe the votes he does get will come from independents and Democrats. So, what do Democrats have to do to make sure Gary Peters is our representative, work even harder for Gary Peters to make sure the few thousand votes Kevorkian pulls from Peters are not the margin of victory for Joe Knollenberg. Every phone call, every door knocked, every dollar donated have to count. We have to make sure Gary's message gets out effectively by every method available.

How can you help? Click here to make a donation to Gary's campaign, NOW!

Parolee Kevorkian seeks seat in House
Assisted-suicide advocate to push forindividual rights

BY KATHLEEN GRAY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER •

March 25,2008

"I have never been a political person. I have only voted once in mylife," he said, during a rambling news conference Monday in Southfieldin which he quoted a range of historical figures that included Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Douglass.

Kevorkian plans to run as an Independent candidatein the 9th Congressional District, for a seat that is held by U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Township.
Kevorkian promised to stay in officeonly two years if elected.

"I'm 79, almost 80," he said. "That's old."

His goal is to raise awareness of the Ninth Amendment, which says rights spelled out in the Constitution do not diminish rights that aren't specifically spelled out.

Oakland Press goes overboard in covering Kevorkian entering Congressional race

This is getting ridiculous. I guess the Kevorkian story was a novelty, but giving this guy as much press as he's received when there is a real race between Gary Peters and Joe Knollenberg is over the top. Kevorkian has never held elective office and has no experience in raising money, putting together an organization, gathering volunteers, and all the aspects of a real campaign. How about asking him his views on the war, the economy, the foreclosure crisis, now the debt crisis in general. I haven't seen one piece of responsible journalism on this story.

Eccentric: Kevorkian brings new life to 9th District race

Dr. Kevorkian brings new life to the 9th U.S. House race

By now I am sure that Gary Peters and Joe Knollenberg are huddling in their respective corners weighing what to do next.

No sooner had Nancy Skinner been knocked out of the race for the 9th U.S. House seat then a new candidate entered the arena.

Jack Kevorkian announced that he is going to run for the seat.

Dr. Death.

Oh, my.

This could upset the entire dynamic of the contest, which already has taken some pretty sharp turns as it is. To recap, incumbent Knollenberg is up for re-election this year to represent the sprawling district, which stretches from Waterford to Royal Oak and from Farmington to Oakland Township.

Knollenberg has been the representative since 1992 and has enjoyed success in every re-election bid he has faced since then.

But things are changing. The district was reconfigured several years ago from the old 11th District to the new 9th District. It now includes Pontiac, which has a sizeable Democratic tilt. And even the Birmingham area has been leaning more toward the Democrats in recent years.

Anyway, in the last election Knollenberg was nearly upset by Skinner, who was at that point known as Nancy Skinner Who?

Actually she had some decent credentials, including being clobbered by Barack Obama in an Illinois Senate race, but she was not a well-known name in these parts. Yet she came within 15,000 votes of upsetting Knollenberg.

You can attribute that a lot to the Iraq War and frustration with the Bush administration and its spending policies. True blue - or is it red? - Republicans don't like what they are seeing in Bush's - dare we say, reckless - domestic spending. And more moderate Republicans are uneasy about the trillion-dollar expense being racked up in Iraq.

Knollenberg has a reputation of walking in lockstep with the Bush administration, even though he has been trying to distance himself from the prez in recent months.