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Conservatives win Michigan GOP primaries
By UPI Staff
United Press International
August 10, 2006

DETROIT (UPI) -- Two conservatives won the Republican primaries for a Senate and House ticket in Michigan, while there were no challengers to Democratic incumbents.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard beat out clergyman Keith Butler in the U.S. Senate primary and will try to unseat Democrat Debbie Stabenow in November, the Detroit News reported.

Bouchard, 50, based his campaign on homeland security issues and his law enforcement background, although the newspaper said he will likely be considered the underdog in the November election.

In the 7th Congressional District, conservative challenger Tim Walberg upset first-term Democrat Joe Schwarz. Walberg was supported by Right to Life and Club for Growth, a Washington anti-tax, anti-regulatory group.

Walberg is a minister and former state lawmaker who made campaign issues of Schwarz' support of abortion rights and his opposition to a U.S. constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

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