Meet the doctor who symbolizes the nationwide rebellion against Obamacare. His name is Dan Benishek. He’s a 57-year-old surgeon from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and he’s never held political office at any level. He announced on March 15 that he was running as a Republican for Michigan’s First Congressional District - that’s Bart Stupak’s district, in case you were wondering.
Today Benishek is a rising political force and an Internet phenomenon who could upset the balance of power in Washington, D.C.
Six days after Benishek announced his candidacy, he was handed an unexpected gift by Stupak, the Democrat who vowed to fight publicly funded abortion in Obamacare. Stupak stepped to the podium that fateful Sunday afternoon in front of a live national TV audience and announced he would support Obamacare with nothing but a meaningless executive order as his cover.
The congressman’s capitulation made Benishek a nationwide sensation.
Within 24 hours, he boasted 20,000 Facebook “friends.”
Within 48 hours, Benishek had raised $50,000 in online donations.
“No way is he [Stupak] going to win,” said Benishek. “I’m going to beat him. Actually, he beat himself by doing that dramatic flip-flop. He could have been a hero.”
Benishek, just a week into his campaign at the time, was watching the news on TV when Stupak dramatically announced he was changing his vote. The doctor’s phone began ringing off the hook.
“We just organized my friends and neighbors when we started out,” Benishek said. “I was upset about the stimulus plan being passed in the cover of darkness. The arrogance just drove me nuts.”
He finally decided to take the plunge into politics while ice fishing with friends a few months ago. Instead of taking the school committee-city council-state rep route, he gunned right for Washington, D.C.
“I had no idea what to do or how to do it, but you learn fast. We were doing the best we could, but we didn’t raise much money. And then Bart flipped like that and suddenly the money started pouring in.”
Stupak’s cave-in instantly nationalized the race for Michigan’s First District. Benishek’s contributors have come from all over the country, much like Scott Brown’s did here in Massachusetts when it appeared that he offered a chance to stop Obamacare.
“It’s mostly $5 and $10 donations,” Benishek said.
Nationalizing Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat in Massachusetts is one thing. Nationalizing the race for Michigan’s rural First Congressional District is another.
The Upper Peninsula is small-town, Middle America, 300 miles north of Detroit. It’s conservative country.
Benishek, the political neophyte, certainly carries Washington “outsider” street cred. He also believes he knows a hell of a lot more about health care than the Democrats in D.C.
“You learn a lot about the system,” he said, “battling the bureaucracy that bogs down medical care while paying $40,000 a year in malpractice insurance.
“This is a disaster. It’s just a disaster. It’s just another layer of federal bureaucracy that doctors must comply with. Nurses already spend half their time documenting procedures. So you have to pay two nurses to get the work of one. [Obamacare] is only going to make things worse.”
