LANSING -- With Democrats running Congress, U.S. Reps. John Conyers Jr. and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit, Dale Kildee of Flint and Bart Stupak of Menominee are almost exactly as loyal to their party now as they were when the GOP held control.

So are Michigan Republicans Peter Hoekstra of Holland, Dave Camp of Midland and Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia

But three other Republicans -- Vernon Ehlers of Grand Rapids, Joe Knollenberg of Bloomfield Hills and Candice Miller of Harrison Township – are noticeably less likely to stick with their party on U.S. House votes in 2007 than they were in 2006.

One of them, Knollenberg, is expected to face a formidable Democrat in the 2008 election after winning last November by only 5 percent over a little-known opponent. The front-running Democrat is Gary Peters, a former state senator and lottery commissioner from Bloomfield Township.

Elsewhere in the delegation, votes by Democrats John Dingell of Dearborn and Sander Levin of Southfield reflect increased party loyalty. So do votes by Republican Fred Upton of St. Joseph.

“All of these members will vote their district first. Party leaders know that and encourage that,” said political science Professor David Dulio of Oakland University.

Dulio, who teaches about congressional politics, said the leaders’ priority in both parties is to retain the seats they have and add to that number.

Thus leaders understand that “if you need to vote your constituents, go ahead,” he said. “They’re willing to forgive votes that run counter to the party line.”

Congressional Quarterly, a nonpartisan magazine, tracks how often House members stuck with their party on votes that pitted a majority of Democrats against a majority of Republicans. Between January, when Democrats took control, and the Aug. 4 start of the summer recess, most Democrats and most Republicans were on opposite sides of 526 of 839 roll-call votes.

Michigan has six Democrats and nine Republicans in the U.S. House.

Dulio cautioned that party unity scores should be taken “with a grain of salt” because some issues may divide all Democrats from all Republicans, while on other issues, “51 percent of Democrats vote against 51 percent of Republicans, and all sorts of people defect on both sides”.

In the entire delegation, Ehlers has been most likely to split with his party this year, the Congressional Quarterly analysis shows. He holds a safe GOP seat in western Michigan.

Dulio said, “Ehlers sort of goes his own direction. He cares what the party thinks, but he’ll always do what he thinks is best.”

John Clark, a Western Michigan University political scientist, says it makes a difference whether a member belongs to the majority “because the party in control gets to set the agenda and decide which votes come to the floor in the first place.”

Clark, who teaches a course called the Politics of Congress, said GOP moderates such as Ehlers may find that Democrats are bringing up more bills on issues that interest them, such as environmental protection, but that conservative Republicans dislike.

He noted that in the summer of 2006, the House GOP brought to the floor a number of measures “designed to differentiate Democrats from Republicans on social things” before the election. “That made it hard for moderate Republicans to vote with the party and probably cost Republicans a couple of seats in the Northeast where the moderate wing still has somewhat of a stake.

“The idea was to embarrass the Democrats, but sometimes that backfires,” he said.

First-term Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton has been the state’s most loyal Republican, joining the GOP majority on 97 percent of the votes, the Congressional Quarterly tally shows.

“That’s his district,” Dulio said of Walberg’s voting record. “Why did he win? He’s more conservative than Joe Schwarz,” the centrist Republican incumbent he ousted in the 2006 primary.

Walberg topped the Democratic candidate by only a 4 percent margin last November, but Dulio says he’s not at serious risk of losing next year against likely challenger state Sen. Mark Schauer of Battle Creek, because of the district’s conservative bent.

And Clark said Walberg’s high party unity could shore up support with the Republican base in the district after the hard feelings caused by his defeat of Schwarz in the 2006 primary.