Political pundits have been burning up the air waves and nets this week analyzing Tuesday's primary election results with Rick Snyder's takedown if not takeover on the Republican side getting lots of attention.
Much less is being said about progressives and labor torching Andy Dillon's plans to capture the Democratic Party for Big Business and conservatives. Dillon's grand political plans are in ashes and he is the guy holding the match that lit the fire.
Dillon, the former Republican, had declared war on mainstream Democrats in a thousand different ways as Speaker. It was a battle started by Dillon that divided Democrats and gave Republicans control of the political message.
Progressive policies around consumer protection, energy, expanding freedoms, corporate accountability and other issues were smothered by Dillon's right-leaning politics and personal ambitions. His spectacularly goofy strategy of letting Senate Republicans define the debate around the budget not only divided his caucus it left them without any real political strategy on taxes and government spending. Dillon's failure to lead House Democrats with an aggressive, populist agenda for change now endangers their majority--a majority that enabled Dillon to become Speaker and for which he did nothing to create.
There are some who complained that Tuesday's Democratic primary election was just about Dillon wanting to "shake things up" within the Democratic party and Big Labor fighting to keep the status quo power arrangement. But it was never all about--or even mostly about--the Democratic party, labor or power for the sake of power. It was a fight over values and whether progressives would continue to have an important voice in developing policies shaping the future of Michigan.
Conservatives and big corporations already have a Grand Old Party. Dillon wanted to give them another one. That was unacceptable to progressives who work on health care, environmental, family planning, equality and other policy issues. And it would be disastrous for voters who want real choices come Election Day.
To be sure, Dillon had some support from mainstream, more progressive Democrats. State Sen. Gilda Jacobs threw an 11th-hour Hail Mary pass defending Dillon's pro-life position on abortion, claiming against all evidence to the contrary that he was no threat to pro-choice voters and supporters of stem cell research. It was an embarrassing display for Jacobs but in the end her efforts were to no avail.
Mainstream Democrats wisely decided that Andy Dillon did not represent their values and gave Virg Bernero an opportunity to lead them in November.
Labor gets the lion's share of credit for helping Bernero win the Democratic nomination for governor, pumping money and people power into a race where both candidates were relative unknowns. It made a huge difference.
But Bernero's progressive support was universal. Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Lone Tree Council, Clean Water Acton, Equality Michigan Activists, Justice Caucus, NOW--and others--united behind Bernero and against Dillon.
Planned Parenthood sent out 300,000 pieces of mail to Democratic primary voters letting them know the truth about Dillon's conservative record on abortion, family planning and stem cell research. Sierra Club made thousands of calls and sent mail debunking Dillon's claims about championing clean energy legislation. Hundreds of thousands of email messages and mailings were sent by Clean Water Action and others.
Meanwhile, Dillon's corporate allies operated on both sides of the primary, giving money to Republican candidates as well as Dillon in hopes of gaining even more political control than they already have in Lansing.
Progressives still play on an uneven political field when it comes to money and politics. But the threat that Dillon posed of conservatives and big corporations capturing complete control of both political parties in Michigan has ended. For now.
(Get to know a bit about Jocelyn Benson, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State. - promoted by rich)
Over 100 D.C. insiders and Michigan politicos showed up at a fundraiser on Capitol Hill last night in a tremendous show of support for Jocelyn Benson's bid to be our next Secretary of State. Obama Administration officials, House and Senate staffers and top tier national political operatives opened up their checkbooks and gave her a ringing endorsement.
Although (yet another) excruciatingly long floor vote on healthcare reform kept our Members of Congress from showing up personally, our distinguished Michigan delegation including Reps. Peters, Conyers, Stupak, Cheeks-Kilpatrick and Schauer all sent delegates from their offices to express their support for Jocelyn's candidacy.
And why not? To say the girl is qualified is an understatement!
Jocelyn started her career at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama as an investigative journalist. She left to earn her Masters degree at Oxford University in the UK. During the 2004 Presidential election, Benson was hired to develop the first nationwide Election Protection program for the Democratic National Committee.
Since then, Benson has worked with Michigan Democratic Party's election protection effort and has developed and supervised two statewide non-partisan election protection efforts. She also worked with several groups to successfully block the closure of a Secretary of State branch office in Buena Vista Township, Michigan.
Neal Kemkar from Obama's voter protection legal team worked closely with Jocelyn during the 2008 campaign cycle.
"Our team worked with election lawyers across the country to protect citizens rights at the polls and to challenge the Republican disinformation campaign in certain states. In Michigan, we worked tirelessly with Jocelyn to fact-check and legally challenge unscrupulous efforts to prevent people from voting simply because their house was in foreclosure. I can't think of a more qualified, more passionate person to fill this office than Jocelyn."
I know many people think the Secretary of State is not sexy. But, as recent election results in Florida and Ohio have shown, the ethical - or unethical - behavior of the person who holds this office can choose the Presidency. Or in the case of Minnesota, who becomes our 50th senator.
And then there's her husband, Ryan Friedrichs. Cute as a button, Ryan makes the ideal candidate husband. He is widely respected for his work in increasing the civic participation of historically underrepresented voters locally and nationally for over 10 years, giving a voice to people who had no say in the system.
Just how did these two kids find each other?
I know its early to be thinking about the 2010 elections, but Jocelyn needs your support. She is tirelessly building the grassroots, fundraising and communications structure to show party leaders - and opponents - that she is a serious candidate who is serious about our issues. I've crawled out of my self-imposed hiatus in the blogosphere to show Jocelyn my support. I hope you will too.
It may only be May of 2009, but in the wonderful world of politics, it's never too early to talk election scuttlebutt!
On the Dem side, Lt. Gov. John Cherry continues to pick up steam. He's just announced that 17 Democratic County and District Chairs have endorsed him. If that sounds impressive, add that to the 14 others that previously endorsed, bring it to a whopping 31. Our great state only has 83 counties and 15 congressional districts, so one can only guess where he'll be by July or August!
The rumored possible/maybe (can we get any more vague?) run of Macomb County Sherrif Mark Hackel appears to be over, quite possibly even before it got started. For this, we go to our trusty Senior Capitol Correspondent and Off the Record host, Tim Skubick -
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel is making noises that running for governor maybe ain't such a hot idea after all. Apparently in addition to his law enforcement chores, he is also a math major and the numbers don't add up on the democratic ledger.
Sure he is from vote rich Macomb County and anybody running for governor would love to have that as a base, and sure he has great name ID and voters like him, but his chances of wrestling the nomination from Lt. Gov. John Cherry are slim and none.
While Hackel has spent the last six months thinking about running, the aforementioned Mr. Cherry has actually been running and rather successfully as he methodically puts his machine together.And then, my personal favorite continual comedic fodder, the ever bumbling and grandiose Republicans...
And then there's my favorite source of continual comedic fodder, the bumbling and arrogant Republican field. Remember, the very same party whose own people published a white paper saying they didn't even have a bat's chance in hell of winning...
Encouraging and interesting news comes to the state courtesy of a new white-paper from an interesting group of Republican strategists - the GOP just can't win in 2010. The article from MIRS (subscription only) is quite revealing. For instance -
A new white paper by MDJ&R Strategy Consultants takes a look at why the GOP went from controlling the governor's mansion and both houses of the Legislature before the last redistricting in 2000 to having a Democratic governor and House today. Their study of election data trends predicts neither will change hands in the 2010 election and Republicans will drop to a 20-18 majority in the Senate.
"The numbers aren't there to be successful in 2010," said Dennis DARNOI, former chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Mike BISHOP(R-Rochester). "It's clear that the message the top-of-the-ticket candidates have been using isn't resonating. It hasn't been successful for six years."
Darnoi said the GOP has lost suburban and independent voters, particularly from the five biggest counties -- Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Kent and Grand Traverse. Only 32 percent of Michigan voters identify as Republicans, even though 40 percent say they're conservative. Republicans need an 83-county strategy, he said.
Hmm, an 83-county strategy, eh? Sounds a little familiar, kind of like a 50-state strategy implemented by the Democratic National Party in 2008? You betcha! (wink)
(Interesting ... also relevant (also, not an endorsement ... if someone wanted to pen a pro-Bing diary...). - promoted by Eric B.)
I'm a lifelong resident of the city of Detroit and on May 5, 2009 I will be casting a vote in an election highlighted by a Mayoral race. I've already decided to support the incumbent, Mayor Ken Cockrel. But setting that fact aside, this note is my unbiased view of the use of technology as I see it in this election.
While I was pleased to see that Dave Bing’s campaign is officially launching an online “social networking campaign,” it seems a little late to the game. Bing’s launch will include a Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and YouTube account, in addition to a text messaging campaign.
This bothers me for several reasons. First, the election is May 5 and for a social networking campaign to be effective it should have been implemented several weeks, if not months, ago. In lieu of this, Bing’s “social networking campaign” seems more of a gimmick than an honest attempt at utilizing social media and technology to truly involve and inform voters. Unless, of course, Bing plans on running again after the May 5th election, a question he refused to answer in the WADL debate.
On the Eve of the Election: Obama Closes Campaign with 7-Point Lead
Researchers
Stan Greenberg
Chairman and CEO
Press Contact
Jaclyn Macek
Communications Director
Ph: 202 478 8300
November 3, 2008. Washington, DC. As Americans head to the polls tomorrow, the final national survey from Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner shows Obama with a stable and decisive lead in the race for president. But there is much more going on that will likely produce an even bigger outcome. The structure of Obama's support is untouched by the closing campaign, with considerable evidence of rising confidence in Obama over McCain on taxes, the economy and the financial crisis that are themselves growing more central in predicting the vote. With surging enthusiasm and solidity of Obama's voters and a growing partisan advantage impacting races at all levels, more than a few barriers will likely be broken on November 4th.
Obama is ahead in the race for president in our last poll that was conducted Thursday night, Saturday morning and Sunday night with 1,000 likely voters nationwide by a 7-point margin: 51 to 44 percent, with 3 percent undecided and 4 percent voting for 3rd parties (Nader at 2 percent and Barr at 1 percent).
We project, however, when all is said and done that Obama will lead 53 to 44 percent, with 4 percent for 3rd party candidates...
(Headed into the home stretch. - promoted by Eric B.)
I hope you read my blog post today at mi.barackobama.com. With only four days left until the most important election of the last eighty years, I'm doing everything I can do to help create the change we need by electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Please join me in working hard these last four days to elect Barack Obama president, and read my blog post to learn about all the reasons why Senator Obama will be a partner for Michigan in the White House. Eight years of Bush policies are enough
(Gee, what a unique idea! ::snark:: - promoted by LiberalLucy)
What a fantastic idea:
Take Your Daughters to the Polls Day is a national campaign, inspired by the same folks who brought you the now infamous Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Right now, with women and women’s issues being at the forefront of this year’s election, what more apt time in our history is there than this to expose our daughters to the importance of democracy in action? Take Your Daughters to the Polls Day is the perfect way to let them know that they, too, can exercise their right to have a say and make a difference.
Personally, when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to turn 18 so that I could have my turn at making the polls shake. I remember feeling nothing but envy when my parents took to my elementary school’s gym every so often, not to lob dodgeballs at opposing team members but rather to carefully select the leaders they thought would best represent them – not to mention me and my little brother – in the world of politics.
(This is one of the many reasons I blog - to share and read personal stories about how the (in)actions of those in DC and Lansing affect ordinary people. - promoted by ScottyUrb)
For the record, I was against the bailout. I wrote a handful of emails to my Representative, John Dingell and both Senator Stabenow and Senator Levin. I made phone calls begging for them to vote against the bailout. I was convinced that sending almost a trillion dollars to some of the very people that got us into this mess was a very bad idea. I firmly believe then, and still do now that the only real way to help Wall Street is to conduct criminal investigations and do something to kick them of the bad habits they got adicted to (like trading and inflating the price of the complex economic devices that got us in this jam). I wrote to the Obama campaign asking that he not vote for the bailout. In the end, as we all know, my efforts were futile and the bailout passed.
I'd like to think that I know a little about hard economic times. I was born in Louisiana in the early 1980s where my father worked as a helicopter mechanic for PHI. In 1985 we moved to Michigan when the oil company ran into hard times and my father was forced to look elsewhere for work. He came to work for General Motors as a mechanic for their corporate helicopter and airplanes at Metro Airport.
For the first few years, we rented as we had difficulty selling our house down in Louisiana. With the economy is turmoil, it was nearly impossible to find a buyer for the decently-sized house of which we were the original owners. In the end, we sold the house back to the bank and lost about $30,000 on the deal.
In my childhood here in Michigan I grew up in a typical middle-class household. In addition to my father's work at GM, we had some income from my mother who worked as a preschool administrator and a Head Start director in a poor school district, before finally finding the job she's held for over a decade as a second grade teacher. We weren't rich, but there was always food on the table. I would later come to realize how hard my parents worked, and how much they sacrificed so that my little sister and I always had what we needed. We might have had hand-me-down clothes from cousins and I might have had a job since I was 14 to help offset bills and expenses, but I never knew the fear of losing our home.
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today, in a a suit brought by the Ohio GOP. The suit basically claimed that the Democratic Secretary of State was required, under the Help America screw uo the Vote Act, to use those oh-so-accurate DMV records, to cross reference against all voter registrations, and scratch any mis-matches.
As I recall the procedure, the Secretary won at the District (i.e., trial) court. The largely conservative Sixth Circuit reversed, and entered an order requiring her, in essence, to provide a list of every voter (or new registrant) whose voter registration information was not identical to their DMV data. As I understand it, among other things, this list would reveal people that registered to vote without a middle initial, but used one on their drivers license. It would also reveal people that lawfully moved before the election without re-registering, or people that were properly registered, but unlawfully failed to change (or lawfully decided not to renew) their driver's license. (Incidentally, losing your right to vote is not one of the penalties available for failing to change your drivers license within 30 or 60 days of a move). That list would be circulated to Republican poll challengers, to challenge the identity of 600,000 some-odd voters on election day. I believe local officials also sought to use it to pre-emptively scrub voters from the rolls.
The Sixth Circuit ruling was widely condemned by legal scholars and professionals. The Supreme Court, ironically, vacated the order (that required the Secretary to publish this list), by using a tried-and-true method that's usually reserved for kicking the little guy out of court: the theory that a statutory scheme (here, HAVA) doesn't allow private parties (i.e., you, me and the GOP) to sue. Thus, no 600,000 member long list for Republican poll challengers to work off of.
After seeing right wing nutjob bloggers offer God's blessing on the Sixth Circuit for this now-reversed ruling, it is great to see their beloved Roberts and Alito-infested Supreme Court actually get one right. The NPR snippet on the story appears below the fold.
So, a federal judge finally rules on the side of the people. Check out this article from the Washington Post. According to Judge Stephen J. Murphy III of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, The State violated federal law when it removed about 1,500 newly registered voters from its rolls this year after voter identification cards mailed to them were returned undelivered.
Those voters, along with any removed since 2006 on the same basis, must be returned to the rolls unless there was another reason to have questioned their eligibility
What is even better is the our great Sec. of State was not available for comment:
Murphy told the state to immediately stop the cancellations and remove any designation in poll books that would prevent the voters' ballots from being counted if they appear at the polls on Election Day and meet whatever further proof of identification would otherwise apply to them. Neither Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land nor a spokesperson could not be reached for comment following the ruling.
We should all thank the ACLU for preempting a GOP move that was very effective in Ohio four years ago.
I received this e-mail with some of the facts about ACORN. It contains some excellent talking points. Michigan is one of the states that has been cited for problems with ACORN. Sheila Smith, who is running for Oakland County Clerk, was formerly ACORN's political director in Detroit. She left that post when she started her run for office, but had guidelines in place to prevent problems from happening there.
To: Interested Parties
From: Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest
Date: October 9, 2008
Re: The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive
Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.
"...if you want to be a green college kid or a green adult, don't fool yourself: you can change the lights. You can change the cars. But if you don't change leaders, your actions are nothing more than an expression of, as Dick Cheney would say, 'personal virtue.'"
-- Columnist Thomas Friedman
Who we elect matters!
Pleas join the Michigan League of Conservation Voters for an evening of outstanding Michigan music and political action! Your support will ensure that good environmental leaders will be elected from county commissions to the state House. While all eyes are on the Presidential election, Michigan LCV is working hard to make sure the new President is supported by strong environmental leaders at all levels of government.
The night of music and dancing will feature incredible Michigan music, including Breathe Owl Breathe - a band that "experiments with an array of stringed instruments (most notably the cello and guitar) and vocal harmonies to texture their original songs. They were raised by rivers and gardens and their instruments tell the tales. They traveled to cities and islands and their voices tell the tales." -- Seth Benard, EarthWorks Music.
Obama signs all around my East Lansing neighborhood (Glencarin-Chesterfield-MSU area) have been getting torn up, littered about, and the metal holders are getting twisted up and strewn about. I counted six on my three block street alone.
Just wondering: anyone else having this happen around the Lansing area, or was this just the work of some angry drunken frat boy?
Counsel for individual and class plaintiffs, counsel for the Michigan Democratic Party, and counsel for the Obama campaign filed suit today in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, seeking an injunction (i.e., court order) to prohibit the use of home foreclosure lists by Republican poll challengers. The Macomb Couty Republicans, the state party and the RNC are listed as defendants.
This action seeks class certification, on behalf of voters that are having their homes foreclosed, on the grounds that they are too numerous to name individually. It also includes specific individual plaintiffs that are in foreclosure, but who, under Michigan law, will still reside in their homes as of election day. The DNC and the Obama campaign are also listed as plaintiffs.
Live from the Big Tent in Denver, EMILY's List Executive Director Ellen Malcolm and Deputy Political Director Susan Markham were kind enough to take a few minutes and talk with me about how they view Michigan's role in the '08 Elections, and what their fantastic organization is doing to help pro-choice women achieve elected office.
Many thanks to the great folks of EMILY's List for reaching out and helping Michigan!
And update from YAF Watch on YAF member activites. In the primaries three YAFers ran for office, with two earning Republican positions, one internal, one for public office.
Former YAF Chair Kyle Bristow was elected to a seat be a Republican Pecinct delegate. This is a win not only for Bristow, but for Michigan Republican Party State Chair Saul Anuzis, who calls Bristow "exactly the kind of kid we want"
"There are two candidates for drain commissioner, a four-year position, including incumbent Democrat John Pietrangelo and Republican challenger Dennis Lennox. "
Democratic incumbency and Lennox's lack of any experience in environmental engineering should make this a win for Piterangelo.
Tyler Whitney, one of the YAF participants in the anti-gay rally in Lansing who later came out, came in fourth out of five in a Republican primary race for commissioner in Bath Township.
With less than a week to go until yet another primary election in the state of Michigan, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land announced that she expects 1.4 million voters to turn out and cast a ballot.
With 7.4 million registered voters in our state, that means fewer than 20% are expected to make an appearance at the polls to decide who will run the state for the next two years.
Given that there is so much excitement centered around the presidential election in November, the primary is unfortunately overlooked by most voters. Many Michigan legislative seats are determined by the winner of the primary election. In effect, 20% of voters determine who will be elected in November to run the State House and in two years, probably fewer will turn out to see who runs the House and the Senate.
Get out the vote efforts are almost more important for the primary than for the general. Many of the decisions that impact the day to day life of Michiganders comes from the State Legislature.
If you can spare the time, head out to your neighborhoods on August 5 and encourage your neighbors to vote in the forgotten race.
This press release went out last week regarding potential voting problems in Michigan. Sheila Smith, currently political director at Michigan ACORN, is running for Oakland County Clerk. I'm working on her campaign. This is a serious problem, and we need to keep our eyes on the ball. If elected in November, Sheila will work to end these kinds of problems, but she can't do anything about this year's election.
If you live in Oakland County, please vote for her. She is running unopposed on the Dem side of the November ballot so has no primary next week.
In the other Kilpatrick political news, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is facing primary opposition for her House seat for the first time in.... well.... like... a really long time.
People in DC are really upset as the Congresswoman appears to be well liked among her peers. While trying to be 'politically correct' [read, not trashing the mayor], they really can't understand why Mayor Kilpatrick is willing to trash his mom's career in addition to his own.
Yet all does not appear to be lost. The latest news from the Free Press:
Meanwhile, in the state's one closely watched Aug. 5 primary race, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick raised $180,475 in the second quarter. That brought her total for the year to $710,654, with $481,543 in cash on hand.
The mother of embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is being challenged in the Democratic primary by former state Rep. Mary Waters and state Sen. Martha Scott. Neither challenger had filed Federal Election Commission reports -- which were due by midnight Thursday -- as of The News' deadline.
Overall in this election cycle, Kilpatrick has raised slightly more from political action committees -- $362,410 -- than from individuals -- $353,494. Her PAC contributors include DTE Energy ($7,500 total to date), Ford Motor Co. ($6,000), Northwest Airlines ($2,000) and Wal-Mart Stores ($5,000).
In the second quarter, she spent $5,610 on a political consultant, $245 for campaign buttons, $190 for "wire for yard signs," $12,000 for a "contract for opinion poll" and $48,350 to CBS Outdoor, apparently for her billboard ads.
David Wasserman, the House analyst for the Cook Political Report, called Kilpatrick the favorite. "It helps an incumbent anytime the opposition is split," said Wasserman.
