Examiner.com article on USA Today poll

Michigan Democrats lead in USA Today poll

A poll published Thursday afternoon by USA Today shows Democrats leading in all contests for statewide partisan offices surveyed.  U.S. Representative Gary Peters led former Secretary of State Republican Terri Lynn Land by 9% for U.S. Senate.  Former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer edged Republican incumbent Rick Snyder by 2%.

Farther down the ballot, the poll conducted by Suffolk University continued to show Democrats with more support than Republicans, all of whom are incumbents.  Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown was well ahead of Republican Brian Calley by 10% for Lieutenant Governor.  Michigan State University professor Mark Totten led Bill Schuette by 7% for Attorney General.  Even Detroit attorney Godfrey Dillard managed a 4% lead over Republican Ruth Johnson.

The poll also looked at the generic Congressional ballot and the 2016 Presidential election.  A plurality said they planned on voting for the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate by a margin of nearly 4% this year.  For the Democratic nomination, an overwhelming majority favored Hillary Clinton (60.8%) over Joe Biden (17.45%).  On the Republican side, undecided led at 17.02% with Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee tied for second at 11.17%.

Much more at the link in the headline, including statistics for all candidates, a video about the U.S. Senate contest featuring Terri Lynn Land putting her foot in her mouth over equal pay for women, and summaries of two other polls this week.  One of those polls included a look ahead to the next presidential campaign.

For 2016, poll respondents overwhelmingly favored Clinton over all the potential Republican nominees surveyed.  She would beat Ted Cruz by 14%, both Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee by 12%, Jeb Bush by 11%, and Rand Paul by 10%.

Good news for Democrats, indeed.

Examiner.com--a tale of two conventions

I wrote two articles for Examiner.com about this weekend's elections.  First, Michigan Republicans retain incumbents at 2014 convention.

The specter of previous conventions hung over last Saturday's Michigan Republican State Convention, where an incumbent office-holder such as Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley of Portland losing his position seemed like a distinct possibility.  History was on the side of an upset.

In 2010, incumbent Michigan State University Trustee Don Nugent failed to be re-nominated at that year's convention.  Incumbents were turned out twice at conventions in 2012.  First, State Representative Dave Agema replaced Saul Anuzis as Michigan's representative to the Republican National Committee.  Then, incumbent State Board of Education Member Nancy Danhof lost her seat at the 2012 convention.  Finally, the 2013 convention featured a leadership struggle in which Michigan GOP Chair Bobby Schostak narrowly retained his office against a Tea Party insurgency led by Todd Courser.

Nothing like that came to pass at this year's convention, as Calley's rival Wes Nakagiri of Hartland moved to have Calley re-nominated for Lieutenant Governor by unanimous acclamation, so that the Michigan Republicans can “unite and defeat the Democrats” as quoted by the Detroit Free Press.  All the other incumbent office holders chosen at the convention from Attorney General and Secretary of State to Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court were also renominated unanimously.

For the first time this decade, the GOP convention didn't include a successful RINO hunt.  Darn.

The second was Michigan Democrats nominate candidates at 2014 convention.

The Michigan Democratic Party ended their two-day convention in Lansing on a high note after a first day that evoked one of Will Rogers' best remembered sayings about politics; he was not a member of any organized political party, he was a Democrat.

On Sunday, all of the candidates nominated at the convention, from Lieutenant Governor down to Supreme Court Justice, ran unopposed and were approved unanimously.

In contrast, Saturday's proceedings saw a protest of one Supreme Court Justice over his views on reproductive choice as well as a contested vote for Wayne State University Governor and a delayed and poorly attended vote for State Board of Education.

The news here was that there was an attempt to thwart the nomination of a judge whose credentials as a social liberal were suspect at the same time the party nominated someone known for defending reproductive rights, Lisa Brown.  In the end, the party proved to be a big enough tent for both of them.

Speaking of big tents, what do you see in this photo of the Democratic nominees from Sunday?


What about this analogous picture of the Republican nominees on Saturday?


I'll leave the answers as an exercise for the reader.

A-10s on parade

The following video from WXYZ reminded me of a detail from the parade I marched in July 4th.

A letter from the Air Force is causing controversy at Selfridge over the air planes on base.

Two of the A-10s from Selfridge flew over the Clawson parade (and other July 4th parades as well). When I stepped off with the rest of Lisa Brown's volunteers, I looked down the parade route and spied the two jets flying east to west a few hundred feet over 14 Mile. I had barely enough time to alert the other volunteers before they flew overhead. It was a great way to start the parade for us.

As for the rest of the parade, it went much better than I expected. I was afraid that the heat and the long walk would get to me. They didn't. A steady breeze blew out of the west, cooling people down. Also, the Clawson parade is like Halloween in July. Nearly every parade entrant with enough members* had people passing out candy to the spectators and just about all the kids lining the parade route held out bags for the treats. Since I missed Halloween here by being out of the country, I got to make up for it. After the planes went over, I looked at the first group of kids sitting on the curb, reached into my bucket of candy, held up a handful, and asked "Who here wants candy?" I was instantly mobbed. I ended up passing out four bags of candy by the end of the parade. I also completely forgot about the heat and long walk. The parade was the most fun activity I've ever engaged in as a political volunteer. I'm looking forward to doing another one.

Happy July 4th from Crazy Eddie's Motie News!

If all goes according to plan, I'll be celebrating the holiday by walking (not marching--I've done enough of that for a lifetime) in the Clawson 4th of July Parade with Lisa Brown. Yes, that Lisa Brown. The first time I wrote about her, I noted the following.

Not only could these draconian laws and the brouhaha over Brown and Byrum's words hurt the GOP, they could benefit Lisa Brown directly, as she is running for Oakland County Clerk. A wave of motivated voters could sweep her into office in November.

It convinced me to volunteer for her, and the first thing her campaign manager asked me to do was march alongside her in a parade. Here's to hoping my feet can take the 1.75 mile walk and that I don't collapse from the record heat, as WXYZ reports.

  Concerns about impact of heat on the 4th of July festivities.
In other news, Happy 4th of July from James Howard Kunstler's Tea Party! has gone viral during the past few weeks, going from about 10 page views to more than 400, nearly 200 of them in the past day alone. It's now the fifth most read post in the history of this blog. If you haven't read it, check it out.

Tom Tomorrow and The Political Minute on Lisa Brown

People are not through having serious fun with Lisa Brown banned after saying "Vagina" and the resulting "Vagina Monologues" performance. Here are two more. First up, Tom Tomorrow.




Original at Daily Kos.

Next, Charles Como of The Political Minute on YouTube. The facts aren't all correct (Brown and Byrum had not been banned indefinitely, just until the legislature recessed), but the jokes are spot on.




Stay cool, and enjoy your chuckles while waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act.

Video updates from WXYZ and WOOD on "Vagina" and bridge

The big story of last week was "Vagina" goes viral, which got more page views than any other entry I posted in the past seven days. I concluded that post with the following look ahead.

The fun and games aren't over yet. On Monday, there will be a performance of "Vagina Monologues" on the State Capitol steps starring nine female Michigan legislators. Never will the expression "political theater" be meant so literally.

So, how did that go? According to WXYZ, spectacularly.





V DAY PROTEST

WOOD-TV also covered the event, with even more crowd reaction and quotes from other politicians besides Lisa Brown, including Barb Byrum, who was also silenced.





Thousands showed up for a performance of the "Vagina Monologues."

In an earlier clip from WXYZ, Cheryl Chodun estimated the crowd to be at least 3,000. The lowest estimate I read was 2,500 and the highest 5,000. Whatever it was, I believe Chodun's observation that it was the largest crowd she's ever seen on the steps of the State Capitol to be spot on. My wife and I have been to protests in Lansing and were disappointed that they never got much over 1,000 participants. I'm glad this one was so well attended and covered.

That wasn't the only big story from last week. The signing of the agreement to build a
new Detroit-Windsor bridge, also merited my attention. At the end of my post about the event, I gave this advice.

I was approached by a petition circulator for this proposed referendum on Thursday. I asked her if this was for Maroun's second bridge. When she said yes, I responded that I would not sign the petition. I then told her that Matty Maroun could go to Hell and walked away. I hope all you who read this entry tell Maroun to go jump, too.

According to WXYZ, it's too late to stop this by not signing the petition.

People who oppose the state's plan to build a second span to Canada say they have enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Looks like the place to oppose this is at the ballot box, that is, if the measure ever gets there. Eclectablog broke the news that at least Republican member of the Board of Canvassers is resigning. If both resign, then at least five initiatives, including this one, may be held off the November ballot because the Board lacks a quorum. That might be worth reporting for Examiner.com. Stay tuned.

"Vagina" goes viral

This has been a very busy week here in Michigan, and especially in Metro Detroit. In addition to the recall of Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, the agreement to build a new Detroit-Windsor bridge, and rising local gas prices, all of which I've blogged about, the following sustainability-related stories all made the news this week:

• Detroit's suit against the state of Michigan was dismissed
• The repeal of the Emergency Manager Law will reman on the November ballot
• The petitions for the measure protecting union rights were submitted.
• The state legislature refused to help Detroit with its streetlights, a topic I blogged about in Detroit's problems as tragedy and farce.
• Detroit's fireworks and parade may be cancelled after this year without outside help.
• Wayne County's air quality improved.
• Cougar populations are recovering and the big cats are returning to their former range in the Midwest.

The big story this week from Michigan, the one that sucked all the oxygen out of the room as it went viral on social media and the national and international press, was the silencing of State Representatives Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum in the Michigan State House, ostensibly for saying "vagina" and "vasectomy" respectively. Join me over the jump for a sampling of the reaction so far, along with an overview of what was being debated when the incident happened.