Michigan Spotlight

I didn't post diddly yesterday. I have found quite a bit of info my Kalis (pron. Kalish) genealogy over in the Czech Republic and was following up with some contacts. More on that later. The focus needs to be on the Michigan Primary.
I found this in the Wall Street Journal Online, regarding the Primary. Some of it is talking about Senator Carl Levin. But here's the deal. To all you Michiganders reading this, we are Michiganders before we are Americans. We are Michiganders before we are Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals. We are Michiganders before we are white collars and blue collars. Point is, WE ARE FROM MICHIGAN!
I will provide some snippets from the article.

• Motown Showdown

• By HENRY PAYNE
  January 12, 2008; Page A8
• 
  
• Detroit
• Michigan Sen. Carl Levin is rather pleased. Iowa and New Hampshire are yesterday's news. And now the spotlight is shifting to the Great Lakes State, which is suddenly politically relevant. This is what the Democrat has wanted for years, a consequential Michigan primary that could change the course of a presidential nomination process.
• Of course, he had to risk party sanctions to schedule a Jan. 15 contest -- both Republicans and Democrats threatened to refuse to seat Michigan's delegates at their national conventions if the state held a presidential primary before Feb. 5. But that's of little concern now.

• "It will be shown to be a hollow threat at the end of the process," says Mr. Levin. "They will be seated . . . it will be plain for all to see that the privileged positions New Hampshire and Iowa once held are over."
• "[N]ext time," Mr. Levin adds, "all the other states will ask, why shouldn't we go on the same day as Iowa? The parties will have to adopt a system that's fair to all states."

This is the one rare time in which I will agree with a Democrat.

• This isn't really about fairness, of course. It's about giving political clout to his own state. And that's something Michigan, once a swing state that drew the attention of politicians with national ambitions, has been losing for years...

Let's all admit, it's a bit of both. This is a state that until the early part of the 20th Century Detroit went Republican and in the '52 and '56 General Election Ike came to Flint.

The article goes on to talk about Ethanol and CAFE standards. I am still a bit conflicted on that.

• ...Democratic candidates won't be campaigning in Michigan. Months of state Democratic Party bickering convinced all of the major candidates -- except Hillary Clinton -- to forego the race in deference to national party rules. Republicans, however, suffered no such dysfunction. As a tight Republican pack emerges from New Hampshire, Michigan suddenly looms as a make or break state for John McCain and Mitt Romney -- or the big state that makes Mike Huckabee a national threat.

• Mike Murphy, a Republican campaign guru who cut his teeth in Michigan, says the state is the candidates' first true test because of its demographics. Michigan is a quilt of inner city blacks, suburban businessmen, Reagan Democrats, religiously conservative reformers and liberal college towns.

• The state's unique mix of voters has produced surprises in the past. Eight years ago, Mr. McCain won the state's primary despite George W. Bush's strength nationally. Mr. McCain looks to do well again, but must contend with Mr. Huckabee, who has caught fire with west Michigan's vast grassroots evangelical network. Even without much of an organization in the state, he has made this a three-man race, says veteran Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell. Mr. Huckabee's theme -- "Americans want a president who reminds them of the guy they worked with, not the guy that laid them off" -- resonates here.

Like I said before, I want the line foreman for president.

• John McCain and Mitt Romney will likely refight the 2000 McCain/Bush battle. Like Mr. Bush, who won Republicans by a 2-1 margin, Mr. Romney is pushing to get out the GOP vote, and is trying to exploit the fact that his father was once a popular governor here.
• But with an uncompetitive Democratic contest, Mr. Mitchell predicts that, as in New Hampshire, Mr. McCain will reap votes from independents and crossover Democrats, which he carried by respective margins of 2-1 and 3-1 eight years ago.
• Mr. Romney's best chance is to go after Mr. McCain for his flip-flops on the Bush tax cuts. Michigan is aflame with anti-tax sentiment at the moment because Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm pushed through a big income tax increase last fall, sparking recall campaigns.

OK, so out of the top three in Michigan we've got "The Christian Candidate," "The Son of a Former Michigan Governor," and a "RINO." There is a better choice. That better choice is someone who is a true conservative. Someone who represents all levels of the Republican Party. That someone is Fred Thompson. Check him out at www.fred08.com and contribute to his campaign here, to help him in South Carolina.

• As the country has moved left in recent elections, Michigan too has become more reliably blue and ceased to be a swing state. But after two small, beauty pageant primaries, the Republican survivor of Michigan will deserve the crown of 2008 frontrunner. [more here]

I say it will be the state of Michigan who will deserve the crown for all the hard work our state's Republican and Democrat leaders have put into this early primary to make it happen. So, the best way you can thank the party leaders on both sides is to head to your polling place and VOTE. The more people who vote the the better the post coverage of our primary. And VOTE FOR FRED!