Rep. Dave Camp (R) Elected 1990, 8th term
Born:	July 9, 1953, Midland
Home:	Midland
Education:	Albion Col., B.A. 1975, U. of San Diego Law Schl., J.D. 1978
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Nancy)
Elected  Office:	MI House of Reps., 1988-90.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1978-90; MI Special Asst. Atty. Gen., 1980-84; A.A., U.S. Rep. Bill Schuette, 1984-87.
DC Office	137 CHOB20515, 202-225-3561; Fax: 202-225-9679; Web site: www.house.gov/camp
State Offices	Midland, 989-631-2552; Traverse City, 231-929-4711.
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Flat and treeless for miles, the central reaches of Michigan's Lower Peninsula are farm country, exposed to bitter winds and snow drifts in winter and shining sun for precious weeks in summer. Like the steppes of Eastern Europe, these are farmlands that produce hearty crops: potatoes, navy beans, sugar beets. The little cities here are often small factory towns, with neat tree-lined streets on a grid layout that suddenly end and turn to bare fields. Each city has some distinction. Midland in 1891 was a declining lumber town when Herbert Dow perfected an electrolytic process to extract chemicals from northern Michigan's extensive brine wells; that was the start of Dow Chemical, still headquartered in this now upscale town. Owosso in 1902 was the birthplace of Thomas E. Dewey, later New York governor and Republican nominee for president in 1944 and 1948. It was also the home of novelist James Oliver Curwood and his Curwood Castle writing studio; today it hosts the Curwood Festival, lovingly chronicled by Thomas Mallon in Rockets and Rodeos, and is the site of Mallon's novel Dewey Defeats Truman. Mount Pleasant, to the north, is the site of Central Michigan University.

The 4th Congressional District of Michigan includes much of this territory north of Lansing and Grand Rapids and west of Flint and Saginaw. It stretches north up the freeways, hemmed in between U.S. 131 to the west and I-75 to the east, both routes where thousands drive in fall to hunt and in winter to ski, into the rolling country around Houghton Lake, once lumber country and now a retirement and resort area, with trailers and condominiums between knotty-pine cottages clustered around icy green lakes. It has more farms than any other district in Michigan. Redistricting added the boom area around Traverse City, which has the world's largest concentration of red tart cherry orchards and is burgeoning with vacation homes, resorts and more than two dozen wineries: this district is the main reason Michigan leads the nation in production of tart cherries, blueberries and dry edible beans. Politically, it remains mostly Republican territory, though some counties vote Democratic on occasion; the most Republican areas are Midland and Traverse City. The district voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

The congressman from the 4th District is Dave Camp, a Republican first elected in 1990. Camp grew up in Midland and returned there after school to practice law. In 1984 he managed the successful congressional campaign of his boyhood friend Bill Schuette; in 1990 Schuette unsuccessfully ran against Senator Carl Levin, and Camp ran for Congress after having served two years in the state House. His key victory was in the Republican primary, where he beat former legislator and Pat Robertson supporter Al Cropsey, 33%-30%. He has won since without difficulty.

Camp has a generally conservative voting record, especially on cultural issues, and is influential on the Ways and Means Committee, where he has been an ally of Chairman Bill Thomas. He played a key role in passing the welfare bill in 1996, helping to write the two bills vetoed by Bill Clinton. At the time, he and John Ensign circulated a letter signed by about 100 Republicans urging that they separate their welfare and Medicaid changes, which had been passed as one bill, and vote on welfare reform alone, daring Clinton to sign it and make history, or veto it and make it a campaign issue. Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership decided to do this, essentially disengaging House Republicans from the flagging Bob Dole presidential campaign. The bill passed, Clinton signed it, and the incumbent president and incumbent congressional Republicans got credit in November. Camp has worked with Michigan Democrats to increase tax credits for gas-electric hybrids and other environmentally-friendly automobiles. In response to attacks from Democrats, he defended a provision that he added to the Medicare/prescription drug bill in 2003 permitting nursing homes to restart nurse aide training programs even if the facility has recently violated federal nursing home standards. Suspending the programs "exacerbates the nurse aide shortage," Camp said. Separately, he pushed legislation to assist patients with kidney disease. He has advocated changes in the federal Hope scholarships to direct more benefits to low-income students. In 2005, he became chairman of the Select Revenue Measures subcommittee at Ways and Means.

Camp has worked on other issues. In 2000, he helped win enactment of the International Adoption Act, which designates the State Department to help adoptive parents in dealing with officials in other nations. Since then, he has worked on the possible ratification by the Senate of a treaty on international adoption, which would remove additional obstacles. He authored the Organ Donor Card Insert Act, under which 70 million taxpayers received organ donor information with their income tax refunds. When House Republicans passed their prescription drug bill, they included an amendment by Camp to cover cholesterol screening for all beneficiaries. A grass-roots group in the district has protested Camp's support of international trade deals, which participants contend have caused the loss of local manufacturing jobs; Camp has sought expansion of trade-adjustment assistance for workers.

Camp has had minimal opposition in the 4th District. He keeps in close touch with the district by signing every constituent letter that leaves his office, often with a personal note--a total of roughly 30,000 each year.

Committees

• Ways & Means (6th of 24 R): Health; Human Resources; Select Revenue Measures (Chmn.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	10	5	13	0	100	55	100	88	78	92	--
2003	5	--	0	5	--	61	100	88	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	26%	--	73%		41%	--	59%
Social	0%	--	95%		9%	--	85%
Foreign	36%	--	63%		39%	--	59%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Dave Camp (R)	205,274	64%	$521,658
	Mike Huckleberry (D)	110,885	35%	$83,217
	Other	2,765	1%
2004 primary	Dave Camp (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Dave Camp (R)	149,090	68%	$697,237
	Lawrence Hollenbeck (D)	65,950	30%	$10,172
	Other	3,533	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (68%); 1998 (91%); 1996 (65%); 1994 (73%); 1992 (63%); 1990 (65%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 181,314 (55%) Kerry (D) 145,774 (44%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 154,539 (54%) Gore (D) 126,282 (44%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fourth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 4
• District Size: 8,053 square miles
• Population in 2000: 662,563; 41.4% urban; 58.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $39,020; 10.5% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 28.7% blue collar; 53.5% white collar; 17.8% gray collar; 13.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 92.8% White, 2.1% Black, 0.7% Asian, 0.8% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 2.4% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 19.5% German, 8.9% English, 8.2% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.