Democrats to target McCotter seat

As we reported a couple months ago, the Detroit Free Press says the Democrats are planning to target Rep. Thad McCotter’s seat in the U.S. Congress because they believe he is vulnerable in 2010:

Emboldened by success in 2008 in two Michigan districts previously held by Republicans, Democratic strategists are taking aim at U.S. Rep Thaddeus McCotter next year, considering him as vulnerable as just about any GOP member of Congress.

Here’s why: McCotter spent more than $1 million to win a fourth term representing the district that covers northwestern Wayne County and stretches into southwestern Oakland but got just 51% of the vote. His Democratic opponent, lawyer Joe Larkin, got 45% of the vote spending less than $30,000.

Add to that the fact that McCotter’s Livonia-based district favored then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama by 9 points in the fall, and it becomes clear why it’s a prime target for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, as the next election cycle comes into view.

McCotter clearly knows he’s going to face a difficult battle, thus his reversal on the federal bailout of the auto industry. When it came to the bank bailout last fall, he savaged the plan as the beginning of socialism, but he has been an enthusiastic advocate of a federal bailout for the auto industry. The difference? His district is filled with auto workers, not bank presidents.

The question is, who will represent the Democrats in such a challenge? State Sen. Glenn Anderson is being recruited through a Facebook page to jump into the race.