2010 Recap Part III: A Polarized Electorate

by: pbratt

Tue Apr 05, 2011 at 11:28:26 AM EDT

While Michigan was among the last states to have its 2010 Census data released, the wait was well worth it. The story that the media covered was Detroit's 26% population loss since the 2000 Census. As I mentioned in an earlier post, in 1950 Detroit was home to 29% of the state's population, a figure that has since dropped to 7% by the 2010 Census. The story of Michigan since then end of the era of "Grand Expectations" between 1945 and 1974 is one of painful economic restructuring from a industrial to a service-based economy, population dispersal (whether from core cities to suburbs or to other states), and growing income/economic inequity within the state.  

Washtenaw County Elections 2010 Examiner Digest--Primary Edition

by: Neon Vincent

Tue Aug 03, 2010 at 00:47:49 AM EDT

Tonight, on primary eve, I'm going to share with you my reporting from this week in an effort to keep everyone here abreast of what is happening in Washtenaw County, which I called home for 14 years.

Excerpts of five stories from the past two days over the jump.

State of the House: Part III

by: pbratt

Thu Apr 29, 2010 at 10:14:24 AM EDT

Introduction

A few weeks ago I examined the underlying political conditions of the 110 Michigan State House districts, which can be found here, and later performed the same analysis on the State Senate. This analysis used a variation of the reputable House Vulnerability Index developed by Crisitunity at the Swing State Project that I called the District Vulnerability Index (DVI). This analysis is the third part of the series, and looks at the individual State House races. The forthcoming last section will look at the State Senate races. I last looked at individual candidate filings in mid-January, and in the past three months, over 100 candidates have filed to run in the August 2010 primary for both parties. As mentioned previously, I maintain a listing of State House and State Senate candidates that includes the financial filing statements that can be obtained via a subscription by emailing peterbratt@gmail.com.

State Senate and State House Candidate Filings and News Roundup: January Edition

by: pbratt

Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 18:00:47 PM EST

State Senate

District 7 (Status: Swing)
This district has seen four candidates emerge, and one depart. Democratic State Representative Marc Corriveau (1/13/2010) and former Democratic Representative Kathleen Law (1/16/2010) have both filed to seek the Democratic nomination.

With Corriveau's entrance into the race former Republican Representative John Stewart (who is running as a Democrat) has departed from the  race.  Corriveau is an extremely effective legislator who has a reputation for winning tough elections, winning election in 2006 in seat that was thought to be a safe Republican district, although Law might prove to be stiff competition in the a Democratic primary.

Facing either Corriveau or Law will be Republicans Colleen McDonald (1/7/2010) or Abe Munfakh (12/28/2010). Munfakh currently serves as a Trustee on Plymouth Township Board, while judging from Colleen McDonald's twitter feed, she had worked for an auto dealership for 26 years before it was forced to close.

District 10 (Status: Leans Democratic)
This Macomb County district covering Sterling Heights, Utica, Clinton Township, and Roseville has attracted its second candidate to replace term-limited Democratic Senator Michael Switalski (who is seemingly challenging US Representative Sander Levin in the 10th District). As noted by the Macomb Daily News, former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga (1/4/2010), has filed for the Democratic primary and immediately became the Democratic front-runner for the seat.

Marlinga will face Macomb County Commissioner Paul Gieleghem, in the Democratic primary. No Republican has yet filed for this seat.  

A Festivus Miracle: State Senate and State House Candidate Filings and News Roundup

by: pbratt

Wed Dec 23, 2009 at 23:43:00 PM EST

Thanks to a large number of news stories and candidates filing to run as your elected officials in 2010, here is an update bought to you by Festivus.

State Senate:

District 10 (Status: Leans Democratic)
This Macomb County district covering Sterling Heights, Utica, Clinton Township, and Roseville has attracted a candidate to replace term-limited Democratic Senator Michael Switalski (who is seemingly challenging US Representative Sander Levin in the 10th District). Paul Gieleghem (12/14/2009), currently is chairman of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners and represents District 19 (covering Central Township), has filed for the Democratic primary. Gieleghem, who served in the Michigan House from 1999 to 2005, might see some competition in the Democratic primary, including Representative Fred Miller and former Representative Frank Accavitti. No Republicans have yet filled for this seat, although Representative Tory Rocca and former Representative Sal Rocca might consider this race. Representative Kim Metlzer, another potential Republican candidate, chose to move from this district into the friendlier Republican territory of the 11th District (which shows you how strongly the GOP thinks they can win this seat).

Analysis of Competitive and Potentially Competitive Michigan State House Races

by: Menhen

Sun Aug 23, 2009 at 01:04:55 AM EDT

On the heels of my last Michigan related diary, which received some pretty suprising attention from the DLCC, I've decided to overview the potentially competitive State House Races going forward into 2010.  By my count, about a third (34 out of 110) of the State House seats will be open in 2010, a far smaller percentage than in the State Senate, where at least 30 of 38 seats will be open.  Although Democrats stand to gain several seats in the Senate, the House is not such a rosy picture.  The competitive nature of the open seats means that there will be a lot of turnovers in the next election, but Democrats will at best only achieve a net gain of 1-2 seats, While the most likely scenario is a no net change to Republicans gaining 1-2.  In a bad year Democrats could lose 5-6 seats, but I don't envision the Republicans gaining the 13 seats needed to take back control of the body.  Democrats control the House by a 67-43 margin, after two successive cycles of huge gains (+6 in 2006 and +9 in 2008).  You can view my Senate overview here http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/5225/early-look-at-competitive-2010-michigan-state-senate-races

Because most of the districts will be uncompetitive, I'm only listing ones that I consider to be "Lean" or "Tossup" districts.  I will include, as in my Senate Diary, a list of announced and potential candidates and 2008 Presidential results.

As with last time, I'd appreciate any comments, criticisms, and corrections that the folks at Michigan Liberal have to offer.  

Michigan: Embattled Victim of the Fed

by: kelster

Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 07:50:36 AM EST

Thank heavens for the Internet.  Without it, I wouldn't know about the heroic efforts of a Lansing lawmaker to fix the biggest problem facing our state. (Hint: it's not the budget, or unemployment, or health care, or the environment.)

In an effort to cast off the shackles of never-ending federal mandates from Washington, Michigan State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) has offered House Concurrent Resolution No. 4” to affirm Michigan’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to urge the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States. (skip)

The House Concurrent Resolution in Michigan states that "Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government, and... [m]any federal mandates from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States..."

If any readers hail from DeWitt, please do let me know if your most pressing concerns include Constitutional violations by a tyrannical federal government.  

Oh, and be sure to ask Mr. Opsommer if he plans to turn down any economic recovery funds that may be coming your way.  

That could be an interesting conversation...