| Today, here in about 10 minutes, I'm going to amble three blocks to the north to Mt. Pleasant's city hall and loudly, proudly ask for a ballot to particpate in the Republican primary. Why the Republican primary? Because 'round these parts, our county offices are held by Republicans and this year's race for prosecutor pits a competent, experienced public servant versus some guy I've never heard of, and the race for sheriff pits a competent, experienced public servant versus someone I suspect is a prank candidate set up by some national satire outfit intended to make smalltown people look like unsophisticated rubes (the winner of this race goes on to face a disgruntled nut running on the Democratic ticket in November. There's also a parks and recreation millage. Here are some races, the results of which we might be interested in*: Republican Senate: The Human Gaffe Machine vs. Clark Durant. A Hoekstra victory, and he's leading in the latest polls, might actually cause Henry Payne to break down and weep. 3rd Congressional District: Steve Pestka and Trevor Thomas. The winner to take on a weakened Justin Amash in November, who will still probably win. Pestka favored in polls; Thomas' campaign has been noteworthy mostly by the amount it's annoyed most everyone. 5th Congressional District: Can Fred Upton's crass pull to the right fend off Mad Jack Hoogendyk yet again? Will Hoogendyk ever be able to cash in on the name recognition he struggled to build in being Carl Levin's last whipping boy? 11th Congressional District: Can Nasty Nancy Cassis, the Nitwit of Novi, pull off a write-in campaign? Will Dr. Tag make Nolan Finley sad by beating the LaRouchie? 14th Congressional District: Gary Peters has all the appearances of a unstoppable steam roller in this race. Hansen Clarke's campaign the other day tried to make out like an online poll showing him in the lead with 81 percent of the vote was a genuine thing. How will this shake out? Detroit Institute of Arts millage: Will metro Detroit's residents say, "No, $1 a year isn't too much to pay to support the arts," or, "Our culture is already deeply in decline, and why stop that?" Add yours in comments. *--I'm leaving town on a short vacation soon after voting, so my interest level is decidedly pretty small. |
