President's Message: Vitally important primary election

Your participation is essential to prolife successes

What does the number 1,027 mean for Michigan prolifers? That number is both a challenge and an opportunity. That number includes both victory and defeat. That number is the total number of men and women who have filed as candidates for public office for the August 3rd primary election. Some of them agree with our mission of protecting all innocent life including the unborn child. Others see as part of their platform the advancement of the proabortion agenda.

This August 3rd primary election is historic and puts into place a new elective establishment. Because of electoral district lines, population distribution and voting patterns, perhaps as high as 80 percent of the winners of the primary election will in all practical purposes not even need to campaign in order to emerge as the November 2nd general election winner. Some of our Michigan districts have such a high concentration of Republican or Democrat voters that a candidate from the opposing party has no chance of winning. This year there are even a few districts where the opposing party has not even fielded a candidate. So the August primary election is PRIMARY in our goal of election prolife candidates.

While all elections are important, this year rises to the top of our list of vitally important because of the shear numbers of vacancies and how filling these vacancies will affect our ability to see prolife bills passed and signed into law. We presently have a state house and state senate willing to pass prolife legislation, but they are stymied by a governor who vetoes prolife bills. We now have the opportunity to remedy that.

Although incumbents usually win re-election, this year of public discontent, may prove that norm is no longer the norm. Also, because of term limits, 29 of the 38 state senate districts are open seats—no incumbent running. In the state house, 52 of the 110 seats are open seats.

What is being done to insure prolife success in the August 3rd primary? Volunteers throughout the state have spent hours meeting face to face with hundreds upon hundreds of candidates assessing how prolife they really are and their abilities to wage a creditable campaign. Anyone can say they are prolife. Filing out a questionnaire and verbally expressing views with a committee of prolifers can be the key to winnowing out the best in a crowded field. After endorsements are made, then the educational outreach begins.

Won’t you be part of that educational election outreach? Throughout this year public polls have been telling us that the majority of people are now identifying themselves as prolife. What an opportunity it is for each of us to reach out to these new prolife voters with the message of the importance of voting in this primary election. A second step is providing them with a list of the endorsed prolife candidates located in the special section of this newspaper or by accessing our website, www.rtl.org, or calling one of our offices.

A well honored political truism is “All politics is local.” Local participation by local prolife volunteers will be a determining factor in prolife candidate victories August 3rd. President Ronald Reagan once stated: “We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life—the unborn--- without diminishing the value of all human life....There is no cause more important.” May all prolife voters take this message of the importance of protecting the life of the unborn with them into the polling booth.

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