The race is on to succeed Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra , who is running for governor of Michigan in 2010.

Hoekstra has been politically dominant for nearly two decades in the strongly Republican 2nd District, and his decision to give up that safe seat adds an element of uncertainty in the district for the first time since 1992.

Like 1992, when Hoekstra, a furniture company executive with no previous campaign experience, unseated veteran Rep. Guy Vander Jagt, the political drama is expected in the Republican primary, where an all-star field of at least four conservative candidates already is forming.

Former three-term state Rep. Bill Huizenga jumped into the race the day after Hoekstra announced he’d forgo another term in the House to run for governor. The two men have a long history together, as Huizenga was Hoekstra’s director of public policy for six years and ran three of his campaigns.

Michigan’s term-limit law barred Huizenga, a former chairman of the state House Commerce Committee, from seeking re-election in 2008. His jump start for the 2010 campaign has helped him secure a number of early endorsements from current and former legislators in western Michigan.

State Sen. Wayne Kuipers has taken a vastly different approach to exploring a potential bid. He is one of two state senators in Michigan who chair two committees — his are Education and Judiciary — and he has been largely engrossed in state issues, such as getting the fiscal 2009-10 budget passed by the Sept. 30 deadline and examining whether Algebra II should be a high school graduation requirement.

Kuipers said he has been holding meetings to gauge support. “Short of getting out in front and announcing in your paper, I’d say things are looking good to getting in,” said Kuipers, adding that he’d “have a formal announcement sometime after the budget is resolved here in Michigan.”

Two other challengers are positioning themselves as political outsiders at a time when Michigan’s severe economic downturn has eroded public support for the state government. Each is eager to paint Huizenga’s and Kuipers’ careers in Lansing as a liability.

Jay Riemersma is the better known of the two, having starred as a tight end at the University of Michigan in the mid-1990s. He played in the National Football League, for seven seasons with the Buffalo Bills and two with the Pittsburgh Steelers, before tearing a knee ligament and retiring in 2004. He is now a regional director for the Family Research Council, a social conservative advocacy organization.

“Our state government has been in shambles, unable or unwilling to make the tough choices needed to put Michigan on solid economic footing,” Riemersma said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Local businessman William “Bill” Cooper is the other contender. Cooper has owned or started several businesses including a printing shop, fitness club, travel agency, corporate aircraft brokerage firm, network of advertising billboards and a minor league hockey team. He boasts that he’s never had to lay off a single employee — which he is quick to contrast with Michigan’s worst-in-the-nation unemployment rate.

“My prospective opponents have presided over the most poorly run state economy in the country,” Cooper said when announcing his exploratory campaign for Congress in June. “Their tax-and-spend policies have been driving both citizens and businesses out of our state, while the small business owners who remain continue fighting just to survive. These career politicians’ fingerprints are all over Michigan’s horrible economy.”

Huizenga said the contention that “Lansing is screwed up and if you were there you’re part of it,” is a faulty one. And he came up with a football analogy that even Riemersma would be hard-pressed to top.