Win a trip to Washington

The 14th Congressional District in Michigan is one of the gerrymandered marvels of the last redistricting efforts. This particular one is about 80% Democratic, in spite of including the upscale neighborhoods of the Grosse Pointes and West Bloomfield, because it includes large chunks of Detroit and Pontiac. The current representative is Gary Peters who looks likely to run for the Senate seat to be vacated by Carl Levin. Which means the 14th District seat will be open. Michigan Radio political commentator Jack Lessenberry puts it this way:

But eventually, someone will run, and I thought I’d let you know about this now in case you’ve been wanting to go to Congress.

All you’ll need is to be a Democrat, be able to come up with over a million dollars in funds, and campaign like a maniac for the next 15 months. If you win, you will get to go to Washington as a very junior member of a largely powerless minority party.

And, in two years, you’ll get to campaign for your job all over again. There are some who think life can’t possibly get any better than that. As the comedian Yakov Smirnoff used to say … What a country.