Kid Rock, or at least his nickname Kid Rock, may not be eligible to be placed on the Michigan ballot, which could force Robert Ritchie to use his less-known given name in any run for the U.S. Senate against long-established Democrat Debbie Stabenow next year.
An apex politician, Stabenow must be taking him seriously if someone already is poking around in arcane ballot law, or it could be coincidence that Roll Call pointed out specific language in the Michigan Affidavit and Receipt of Filing that could prove burdensome for the entertainer to use the name that millions know him by.
The rocker had already created a Kid Rock for Senate website and the Detroit Free Press reported last month that he was thinking about spending money to spur voter registration. His name initially came up in February at the Michigan Party state convention as one of several thrown out as a possible challenger to Stabenow, noted the Free Press.
"I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bulls***," Kid Rock, er, Ritchie said on his website.
"As part of the excitement surrounding this possible campaign, I decided to take a hard look to see if there was real support for me as a candidate and my message or if it was just because it was a fresh new news story. The one thing I've seen over and over is that although people are unhappy with the government, too few are even registered to vote or do anything about it."
But Michigan state law says: "A candidate may not use a 'nickname that is not a recognized diminutive of the candidate's given name or middle name' on the ballot."
The candidate's affidavit does provide a way for a person who has legally changed their name to place that new name on the ballot, but it would have had to have been changed 10 years ago.
After serving two terms in the U.S. House, Stabenow defeated Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham 49.4 percent to 47.7 percent for her U.S. Senate seat in 2000. She has comfortably won re-election in 2006 (56.7 percent) against Michael Bouchard (41.3 percent) and in 2012 (58.8 percent) against former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (38 percent).
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