Mike Rogers (R)	49%
Dianne Byrum (D)	49%

Race Recap:

When it comes to protecting the Great Lakes and fighting for stronger clean water protections, voters in MichiganÆs 8th District had a clear choice in the race between Mike Rogers and Dianne Byrum.  In his six years in the Michigan Senate, Rogers distinguished himself as a friend of industry and an opponent of the environment, siding with polluters rather than voting to protect public health and the environment. For the past two years, Rogers received an environmental score of zero from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.  In contrast, his Democratic opponent Dianne Byrum had pledged, if elected, to fight in Congress for stronger clean air and water standards.  State environmental groups gave her a 100 percent for her clean water votes. With such a clear distinction between the two candidates on environmental protection, LCV was able to elevate the importance of the environment in this race.

Key Polling Results:

LCVÆs aggressive, hard-hitting campaign successfully reminded voters of the importance of clean air and water in their lives.  Working with LGD Insight, LCV surveyed likely 8th District voters from Sept. 25-28 and again from Nov. 5-6 to evaluate the salience of environmental arguments and their impact on voting decisions.  Key findings include:

╖     At the outset of the September poll, voters favored Byrum 36 percent to 32 percent.  After hearing about RogerÆs anti-environment record, voters favored Byrum by an even larger margin ù 46 percent to 27 percent.

╖     Eighty-eight percent of voters (91 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Independents, 85 percent of Republicans) surveyed in November said the environment was an important voting issue, with 41 percent saying it was very important.  

╖     LCVÆs Dirty Dozen campaign clearly helped inform voters about Rogers anti-environment record.  Since September, the percentage of likely voters critical of RogersÆ votes against protecting MichiganÆs drinking water and Great Lakes increased from 28 percent to 47 percent.

Dirty Dozen Campaign Activities:

The LCV Action Fund named Rogers to its Dirty Dozen list of anti-environment candidates on September 7, 2000. Since then, LCVAF has spent nearly $291,630 to inform Michigan voters that when it comes to fighting for stronger clean water standards and protecting the Great Lakes, Rogers is not on their side. 

In October, LCVAF launched a four-piece direct mail campaign aimed at exposing RogersÆ votes against clean water and Great Lakes protections.  Specifically, the mail pieces addressed RogersÆ votes against stronger drinking water standards and to allow the discharge of untreated wastewater into the Great Lakes.  All told, LCVAF mailed 392,000 mail pieces to 98,000 voters in the Flint area. 

In addition to an aggressive ôLetter to the Editorö campaign, LCVAF conducted a large ôGet Out the Voteö effort in MichiganÆs 8th District.  The campaign made over 78,000 persuasion phone calls to inform voters of RogersÆ abysmal anti-environmental record.  These calls were followed by 40,000 GOTV phone calls to voters likely to choose Byrum.