The Weirdest GOP Primary In 2014

The Weirdest GOP Primary In 2014 Explored
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, then-Michigan Republican House candidate Kerry Bentivolio speaks at his election night party in Novi, Mich. Business thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and wants to show them the door in next yearâs congressional elections. In Michigan, longtime businessmen Brian Ellis and David Trott are challenging hard-line Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio in Republican primaries as three years of frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business communityâs agenda came to a head with the 16-day partial government shutdown and the near financial default. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, then-Michigan Republican House candidate Kerry Bentivolio speaks at his election night party in Novi, Mich. Business thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and wants to show them the door in next yearâs congressional elections. In Michigan, longtime businessmen Brian Ellis and David Trott are challenging hard-line Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio in Republican primaries as three years of frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business communityâs agenda came to a head with the 16-day partial government shutdown and the near financial default. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

In a year where business-friendly Republicans are lining up to challenge tea party-renegades, the GOP primary in Michigan's 11th district defies political convention. In one corner is freshman Rep. Kerry Bentivolio—a former Santa impersonator and reindeer rancher who was elected almost by accident last fall after the five-term incumbent abruptly quit. In the other is David Trott, a lawyer who has been dubbed the "foreclosure king" of a state in which 38 percent of mortgages are underwater.

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