Michigan's Rooney Seeks to Join Florida Brother in House

Attorney Brian Rooney is filing the paperwork Friday to join the 2010 race for Michigan's 7th Congressional District seat. And he is seeking to join his brother, freshman Florida Republican Tom Rooney, in the House

Brian Rooney, an Iraq War veteran, is bidding to challenge incumbent Mark Schauer, a first-term Democrat. He plans to do a formal campaign launch next week, likely Thursday, in the 7th District city of Jackson, where his campaign will be headquartered. Then the following week, he'll head off on a tour around the southern Michigan district, which also includes the city of Battle Creek and suburbs of Ann Arbor.

But to get to a general election matchup against Schauer, Rooney would have to outrun former one-term Rep. Tim Walberg in the Republican primary. Real estate exec Marvin Carlson is also in the race and Bill Martin, CEO of the Michigan Association of Realtors, has expressed interest in the contest, as well. Walberg lost the 7th District seat to Schauer by 2 percentage points in 2008 and is seeking a rematch.

Schauer succeeded as painting Walberg as too conservative for the district in 2008. Walberg won a close 2006 election for the seat after ousting one-term Rep. Joe Schwarz, a much more moderate Republican, in that year's GOP primary.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/10/rooney-files-to-run-in-michiga.html