Stabenow looks at a 'very challenging' re-election campaign

Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Kay Hagan, Cynthia Reeves, Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Jeanne Shaheen.

Just hours after the Detroit Free Press ran a story about the continuing search for a Republican challenger to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), the junior senator made it clear she's ready for anyone.

"We are at the beginning of what will be a very challenging 18 months," Stabenow said of her re-election campaign. "We know that it's coming, and we've got to be ready."

Supporters gathered Sunday afternoon at a classic mansion in the Boston-Edison neighborhood of Detroit, formerly owned by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and now owned by attorney Cynthia Reeves. They mingled with Stabenow, Senators Kay Hagan from North Carolina, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. After all four spoke, the Vandellas and the Contours delighted the audience, performing a selection of classic Motown hits.

Sens. Stabenow and Shaheen (center) with the Contours.

Charles Davis of the Contours serenades Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

The Vandellas

Although Republicans have yet to locate a contender for Stabenow's seat, she is not resting on her laurels – something she learned from Sen. Patty Murray, Washington's first female senator. In 2010, Murray narrowly kept her seat after Republican challenger Dino Rossi dropped into the race in May of that year, backed by a huge infusion of political contributions.

"That's why you're here, and that's why I'm extremely grateful," Stabenow said.

She reiterated her continuing focus on job creation, which she believes will come back to Michigan "if you make things here, if you grow things here". Stabenow pointed out that the auto industry is investing in new technology and "growing the next generation of energy efficient vehicles". She pointed out that each of the other three senators supported the auto industry bailout, a statement that drew a big round of applause.

"They stood with me, they with the President. They got it," she said. "Focusing on jobs, that's what brings us together as Democrats."

Hagan, Mikulski and Shaheen all had high praise for Stabenow and urged supporters to ensure her re-election. Hagan chairs the Women's Senate Network, a group of 12 female Democrat Senators. Six, including Stabenow, are up for re-election in 2012.

"It's my job to go across the country and talk to people just like you and tell them how important it is to have these voices at the table," she said. "We all know we've got to retool our country."

Mikulski, who said she and Stabenow represent the "brass section", praised Stabenow's persistence with the Car Allowance Rebate System, commonly known as "Cash for Clunkers". The program allocated $3 billion in incentives for Americans who wanted to purchase newer, more energy-efficient vehicles. According to the Department of Transportation, the incentives pushed more than 690,000 vehicle sales.

"I was there to move it, to shake it and to be one of the transmissions that put it into high gear," Mikulski said. She also credited Stabenow for being one of the strongest voices in passing the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which requires the 180-day window for the filing of pay discrimination claim to re-set with every paycheck. Ledbetter had filed a pay discrimination lawsuit, but lost when the Supreme Court ruled the statute of limitations time-clock began when the employee's pay was originally established.

"She's one hell of a back-room fighter," Mikulski said.

Editor's Note: After this story was published, a reader contacted us with the names of two GOP candidates who have announced they are running for Stabenow's Senate seat: Randy Hekman is a former prosecutor and juvenile court judge from Grand Rapids; Peter Konetchy is a small business owner from Roscommon.