Stupak marks easy win

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ESCANABA - Democrat Bart Stupak retained his U.S. House seat after beating Republican Tom Casperson in Tuesday's election.

Stupak received 212,773 votes to Casperson's 107,115.

Stupak easily won in Marquette County, taking 23,544 votes. Casperson received 8,849 votes.

Stupak also won Delta County by a 11,099 to 7,857 vote, Menominee County 7,213 to 3,687, and Schoolcraft County 2,744 to 1,499.

"It was a big win. We feel good about it and we thank the voters for their trust and faith they've had in our leadership," said Stupak, a resident of Menominee who will be serving his ninth term in the House.

Stupak pointed to Barack Obama's status as the president-elect and more Democrats in Congress and said the common goal should be to "first stabilize this economy, provide health care and get us out of the war in Iraq."

Stupak said he was excited to continue to serve in Washington.

"I'm going to put that longevity and seniority to work for the people of the 1st Congressional District," he said.

Casperson said the loss was disappointing but felt he had put up a good fight.

"It hurts to lose, but I am very proud of what went into this. I think the effort was the best we've ever seen between the volunteers, my family and myself - we worked as hard as we possibly could. I'm not going to hang my head. We're winners," Casperson said.

Completing his job as a state legislator is the next step for Casperson, he said.

"Right now we'll go back and finish up the work of the state. There's projections that the state's in trouble (financially) for next year already," he said.