'Little House's' Melissa Gilbert Announces Bid for Congress

[mvcg66b3r]

Melissa Gilbert is hoping to move from “Little House on the Prairie” to the House of Representatives.

Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder on the NBC drama, announced on Monday she’s running for Michigan’s 8th congressional district.

Gilbert, a Democrat, will challenge freshman Republican Rep. Mike Bishop.

“Please join me in my fight for working families,” Gilbert tweeted on Monday.

http://www.thewrap.com/melissa-gilbert-announces-bid-for-congress/

 

[LKellerIII]

http://www.thewrap.com/melissa-gilbert-announces-bid-for-congress/

Gilbert was President of the Screen Actor's Guild for awhile, and from what I've heard, a very smart person. Her big problem will be getting elected as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district.

One other politician started his political career as head of SAG...Ronald Reagan. From what I've read, Reagan was a liberal in those days (late 40s, early 50s). On the plus side, he gets credit for standing up to studio execs, and getting the residual system put into place. On the down side, it is said that he capitulated to the political pressure of the day that blacklisted many actors and writers for being communist sympathizers.

Pardon the history lesson...

 

[anotherguyTN]

Is this where she is living now or is it at least where she was originally from? She shouldn't be allowed run unless she has lived there for a period of time. I've never thought it was right for someone to be able to move into an area just to run for political office. Isn't that in effect with Hillary Clinton did in order to run for Senator in New York? If she's actually from there I don't have a problem with her running, although I might not necessarily vote for her.

 

[LKellerIII]

Is this where she is living now or is it at least where she was originally from? She shouldn't be allowed run unless she has lived there for a period of time. I've never thought it was right for someone to be able to move into an area just to run for political office. Isn't that in effect with Hillary Clinton did in order to run for Senator in New York? If she's actually from there I don't have a problem with her running, although I might not necessarily vote for her.

I did a bit of Googling, because I was curious. Gilbert has lived there since 2013, so I think that's enough time. She moved there after marrying actor Timothy Busfield (remember 30 Something?), and his home town is Lansing, which is in the district.

But she has a couple of other problems. The retiring Congressman from the 8th is Republican Mike Rogers who is not some Tea-Party nut job, but an actual sensible conservative who build himself a very solid reputation in Congress as an expert on national defense. It's interesting that he's retiring at age 52. I'd speculate that he's moving on to greener (more profitable) pastures. But I digress - Rogers (not surprisingly) has endorsed the candidate who will be the Republican nominee and that will carry a lot of weight.

Her other problem - she owes the IRS for back taxes, and is being branded as a "tax cheat."