Tag: michigan

#rsrh Mitt Romney and suburbanites: key to opening up the map?

(H/T Instapundit) Michael Barone has some interesting thoughts on Romney’s Michigan win:

Four years ago Romney carried the five-county metro Detroit area 45%-27% over John McCain; this time he carried it 45%-32% against Rick Santorum. His metro Detroit margin enabled him four years ago to convert a narrow Outstate 35%-32% margin to a convincing 39%-30% victory. His metro Detroit margin this time was enough to overcome a 42%-38% Santorum margin Outstate.

Are there implications here for the general election. I have a hunch there are. Romney has shown in Michigan as elsewhere a capacity to win votes in affluent areas—which is exactly where (at least in the North) Republicans have been weak in presidential general elections over the last 20 years.

Barone goes on to compare Romney’s showing in the Detroit metro area to both Bushes – and to note that Romney looks like he’s emulating more the elder Bush (who won Michigan in 1988) than the younger one (who did not, in either 2000 or 2004).  This detail may not cheer up conservatives, but it is at least interesting for Republican party loyalists – two groups that overlap significantly, but not completely…

#rsrh Obviously, AZ & MI primaries tonight.

My gut’s telling me that if Mitt Romney wins, it’s going to be by a bit; if Rick Santorum wins, it’s going to be by a hair; if Newt Gingrich wins, it’s going to be a miracle; and if Ron Paul wins, it’s going to be this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZOKDmorj0

Mind you, there’s a big dividing line between ‘Rick Santorum wins’ and ‘Newt Gingrich wins.’

Moe Lane

PS: As to who will win? Don’t know, don’t really care.

#rsrh (Mis)Name! That! Party!

Short version: when this story first appeared in the Hill it referred to Representative Hansen Clarke of Michigan as a Republican, not a Democrat.  This matters because Rep. Clarke had just called for a bailout of Detroit (which includes parts of Clarke’s district) by the federal government; and, obviously, that’s only a story when a Republican legislator is the one doing it.  For a Democratic one, it’d be best classified as a by-product of breathing.

Oh, was that mean of me?  Probably.  I blame my cold.  I’m sure that Rep. Clarke is a very nice person when he’s not requesting my tax money in order to shore up the shining exemplar of modern urban liberal governance.

#rsrh Was the Dale Kildee accusation a Democratic own-goal?

For those who don’t remember: last week retiring Michigan Rep. Dale Kildee was accused of child molestation.  The counter-accusation was that this was politically motivated and directed by the Republican party; which – even if you’re the sort who would believe that sort of thing – should still come across as odd, given that a) Kildee was retiring and b) Kildee’s seat wasn’t particularly being targeted anyway.  But possibly that counter-accusation had the right idea… but just the wrong party?

For Democrats, one of the biggest questions is whether the accusations that have blasted through national news will do any damage to the campaign of the congressional candidate who shares Kildee’s name — his nephew, Dan Kildee.

Continue reading #rsrh Was the Dale Kildee accusation a Democratic own-goal?

RS Interview: Gary Glenn (R CAND, MI-SEN Primary).

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to speak with Gary Glenn, who is president of the American Family Association of Michigan and one of the primary candidates in next year’s Senate race in Michigan against sitting Senator Debbie Stabenow.  Gary is actively seeking the Tea Party vote and has been endorsed by Mike Huckabee: we spoke with him for a bit on the race.

Gary Glenn’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

 

Stuck in traffic on November 17th? Look for the union label!

The n-dimensional geniuses over at SEIU (Michigan) have decided to link up with the Occupy Ringworm people in declaring November 17th to be Bridge Action Day – which should, of course, be more accurately characterized as Bridge Inaction Day.  The idea is that all these public sector union folks will take an unofficial day off from their jobs – which are probably a lot more secure than the average private sector person’s – and use their paid-for leisure to block some Michigan bridges, which will of course keep ordinary Michigan workers from getting to work on time.  This is apparently to show… solidarity… with the people whose day SEIU is ruining.  No, don’t think about it too hard: you’ll just get a migraine from the resulting irony fumes.

Trust me on this.

Anyway, couple that with the inevitable copycat ‘direct actions’ – and, of course, this charming promise to firebomb Macy’s – and it becomes increasingly obvious that tomorrow might be an excellent time to telecommute to work.  Assuming, of course, that you still have a job that will let you do that, thanks to this marvelous economy that the Democrats have given unto us…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Links via here and here.

Jennifer Granholm’s slack-jawed economic advice.

Apparently, it’s all about planned economies: former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is for ‘em.

“We operate as though we are not in a global economy,” says Granholm. “In theory, free markets and laissez faire make perfect sense, but in practice, our competitors are eating us for lunch.”

(pause)

Remember, this was supposed to be one of the Democrats’ smart ones.  One of the people that was supposed to make you wistful that we only let native-born citizens be President (Granholm was born in Canada).  Kind of alarming that she’s now talking about how free market capitalism just isn’t practical? – Because unless Jennifer Granholm had a stroke recently or something, this is probably not a new opinion for her.  Which means that she probably had that opinion while she was running the state of Michigan.  Which explains the current state of Michigan rather handily, really. Continue reading Jennifer Granholm’s slack-jawed economic advice.

Michigan redistricting makes John Conyers cry.

Elections have consequences.

Or at least scream: it turns out that the redistricting map for Michigan signed off on by Republican governor Rick Snyder last week seriously discombobulates long-time Democrat and House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers. The new map (which, incidentally, handles Michigan’s loss of a Congressional seat by effectively eliminating Democrat Gary Peters’ seat and making the rest more party-friendly) pretty much took Conyer’s MI-14 seat and redrew it until he had roughly 20% of the same constituents that he started off with.

If you’re wondering why the Republicans think that they can get away with that – particularly since Conyers is an African-American with a majority-minority district – it’s because the Michigan GOP was very careful in drawing this district (and, apparently, MI-13). As I understand it, the new district is in point of fact drawn to reflect the racial gerrymandering requirements of the Voting Rights Act: which is to say, it’s still majority-minority. It’s just no longer friendly to Conyers specifically… which is not the Republican party’s problem. Or the courts’. Or Michigan’s, really. Or possibly even the Democratic party’s: Conyers may have run unopposed in the 2010 primary, but that’s apparently not going to happen now… Continue reading Michigan redistricting makes John Conyers cry.

Michigan school district caught interfering in recall efforts.

The alternate title for this is “Elections have consequences, Michigan edition.”

The short version (H/T:  Instapundit) is that the Lawrence Public School district of Michigan got caught abusing their emergency broadcast system to explicitly notify people of an ongoing campaign to recall new Governor Rick Snyder, to the point where they gave directions and times for people who wanted to sign a petition.  When this was noticed, Lawrence Public School District Superintendent John Overly fell all over himself admitting the mistake – although apparently this was not enough of a mistake to actually formally bring before the school board.  And then there’s this exchange:

Capitol Confidential asked Overley if that meant he had known ahead of time that something concerning the recall was going to be sent out.

“We’re not going to ever let this happen again,” Overley asserted.

That would be a ‘yes,’ then. Continue reading Michigan school district caught interfering in recall efforts.

A milestone for the political blogosphere?

To the best of my knowledge, we’ve never had a blogger indicted for election fraud before. The trailblazer in this case is Oakland County, Michigan Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness (along with Operations Director Jason Bauer); they’re charged with forging election documents to get fake “Tea Party” candidates on Michigan ballots. Up to twenty-three statewide races may have been affected by the fraud: the authorities are definitely looking into just how far the rot goes in the Michigan Democratic party. The two have been charged with nine felonies: if convicted, McGuinness and Bauer face up to 14 years in jail.

I’m not being entirely nasty by calling this a milestone, by the way: this is a pretty significant indication that blogging has become a way for people to enter the political world and take positions of some power and influence there. After all, McGuinness, as Gateway Pundit helpfully reminds us, was until 2008 a blogger for the Michigan Liberal site*; the fact that McGuinness was also (allegedly) just another corrupt progressive suckweasel who (allegedly) defecated all over the very principles of free and open elections that he (allegedly) supported shouldn’t deter other people from also getting involved in politics on the local and state level. Just don’t be a corrupt progressive suckweasel, that’s all. Continue reading A milestone for the political blogosphere?