10/08/2006

Election 2006

Social issues help shape Stabenow's political views

She's for stricter trade agreements, better health care

Stabenow

LANSING (AP) — Debbie Stabenow sat in a Michigan State University dorm in early 1970, watching classmates get assigned lottery numbers for the U.S. Army draft.

The Vietnam War raged on half a world away. And Stabenow realized it soon would force her own world to change.

"All of a sudden, bells started going off in my head about what I cared about and these people in government that were affecting my life and my friends," Stabenow said. "That was the first time I began to put together that I needed to pay attention, because government was going to affect me and my family whether was I paying attention or not. My choice was to pay attention."

Stabenow has been interested and involved in government since, most recently as a Democratic U.S. senator from Michigan. She's seeking a second term in November and faces four challengers: Republican Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Leonard Schwartz of the Libertarian Party, David Sole of the Green Party and Dennis FitzSimons of the U.S. Taxpayers Party.

Stabenow, 56, has based her campaign on what she calls a fight to preserve the state's way of life. She's pushing for stricter enforcement of U.S. trade agreements and says health care coverage should be a right rather than a privilege.

Republicans say Stabenow has been ineffective and have criticized her votes on immigration and other issues. The GOP says Stabenow's campaign commercials don't always reflect her actual voting record, and that she has voted both ways on issues such as immigration to please more Michigan voters as the election nears.

Stabenow defends her record, saying she has helped curb Canadian trash imports, protect pensions and improve equipment for police and fire departments.

She was raised in Clare, known as the gateway to northern Michigan. After graduating from Michigan State, she worked at a Lansing high school making home visits to troubled students and working as a liaison with the Lansing police.

She was on the job for about a year when politics took a firmer grip on her life.

Stabenow joined a women's group that became concerned about Ingham County government's plans to close a nursing home. She participated in the effort to keep the home open, and eventually was recruited at age 24 to run against the county commissioner who had led the effort to shut down the nursing home.

Stabenow was offended when her male opponent referred to her as "that young broad" in the county commission race.

"It just got me, with my red hair and my stubbornness," Stabenow said. "It made me more determined to win."

Stabenow later became the first woman to head the county's board of commissioners.

David Hollister — a former state lawmaker, Lansing mayor and state economic development official — has known Stabenow since she was a college student. He encouraged her to get involved in politics and says she has the same traits now that she had then. "Boundless energy. Boundless optimism," Hollister said. "She has always been very committed to social justice issues, particularly related to seniors and health care."

Stabenow won a state House seat representing the Lansing area in 1978. She also served in the state Senate from 1991 through 1994.

Stabenow ran for governor in 1994, but didn't get the Democratic nomination. The nod went to former U.S. Rep. Howard Wolpe, who picked Stabenow as his running mate. The Democratic ticket was soundly beaten that fall by Republican Gov. John Engler.

But Stabenow rebounded in 1996, winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives over Republican incumbent Dick Chrysler.

After two terms in the House, Stabenow narrowly defeated Republican U.S. Sen. Spence Abraham in 2000, becoming Michigan's first female U.S. senator.

Chris Holman, a longtime Lansing radio and TV personality and the publisher of a Lansing-area business magazine, has known and supported Stabenow for about 30 years.

"Debbie and I don't always agree," said Holman, who supports both Democrats and Republicans depending on the candidate and the race. "But what has always impressed me is her integrity level and how she's always trying to do what's right."

Both Holman and Hollister say Stabenow has been a friend of small business, although her Senate voting record is not rated highly by the National Federation of Independent Business.

Stabenow said Washington has not changed her. She flies home most weekends and still lives in a Lansing house just a few miles from her mother's place.

"I view Washington as a long-distance commute for me," Stabenow said. "I think I do a better job because of that."

Stabenow says her parents weren't political, but they helped shape her beliefs about social responsibility. Her mother was a nurse, which Stabenow said helped spark her interest in health care. Her late father was an Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealer, and her parents' jobs exposed the family to a wide cross-section of the community.

"If somebody came in with a hard luck story at the car dealership, they'd end up at our house for dinner," Stabenow said. "My dad was always helping people out. Both my parents really taught me about reaching out and caring about other people."

The family formed a band, with Stabenow on piano, that performed hymns and gospel music at rural churches on Sunday nights. She's a member of the United Methodist Church.

Stabenow has two adult children from her first marriage. The couple divorced in 1990.

In 2003, Stabenow married Tom Athans, an Air Force veteran, former Democratic staffer and radio executive with Intrepid Communications, gaining a stepdaughter.

Her family is more political than her parents were, but Stabenow acknowledges it isn't always a pleasant business.

"It is something that frustrates everybody," Stabenow said of the political process. "People get mad. But it is necessary to be involved."