115 Days until Election Day

July 12, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

IRAQI STUDENTS VISIT MRP…headquarters yesterday.  Eight students came by through a U.S. State Department program to see how the party works and were very interested on the impact our election will have on their country.  A great experience for all.

McCAIN’S NEW AD… As President of the United States, John McCain will always put his country first. He has done this his entire life. He has an enormous sense of responsibility and duty. When John McCain was offered a chance to go home early from prison camp in North Vietnam, he refused and put America before his own self-interest. John McCain has consistently put his country before politics and party, and will do the same as president.

Please follow this link today and watch "Love" to learn a little more about John McCain’s life and why he owes so much to our great country.

McCAIN HEADQUARTERS & VICTORY CENTER GRAND OPENING…we will officially open our headquarters this Monday, July 14th at 5pm and would be honored if you all would join us and also invite your own organizations.  Governor Mitt Romney will be among our special guests who will be there to help kick off our grassroots campaign here in Michigan. 
When:  Monday, July 14, 2008 at 5 PM
Where:  McCain Great Lakes Regional HQ and Michigan Victory Center
31440 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 100
Farmington Hills, MI  48344

RSVP to Michigan@JohnMcCain.com <mailto:Michigan@JohnMcCain.com> or 248-579-4578

WHAT WILL OBAMA COST US…here is an interesting study.

EXPOSE OBAMA…here is an interesting web page that you may want to share with your friends…I like their energy commercial about "hot air".

MICHIGAN MATTERS…What’s ahead for Michigan in this presidential election? Watch myself along with Denise Ilitch and Derrick Miller as we join "Michigan Matters" host Carol Cain to discuss those issues and more. Is Michigan-native son Mitt Romney heading for the veep position with GOP John McCain? And will there be a Hillary and Obama ticket?  Watch "Michigan Matters" this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on WWJTV (CBS Detroit) and repeated on CW50 (WKBD) at 11:30 a.m. Sunday to hear our spin!  The show is also posted online Sunday afternoon .

CONGRATS TO CAROL CAIN…editorial director at  WWJTV/CW 50 and also political/business columnist at Detroit Free Press, for her blockbuster TV special "Building Bridges: From The Great Lakes To the Great Wall" which talked about globalization’s impact on Michigan. In her first "Eye On The Future" special for the CBS owned station, Cain won three Emmy’s, two awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, was nominated for a Peabody Award, and won an award from the Chinese Business Association of Detroit.

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TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.

McCain takes lead in transparency race

By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 7/11/08 10:08 PM EST

John McCain today fired the latest round in his battle with Barack Obama over campaign finance transparency.

Responding to a coalition of good government groups that last month requested additional details about their fundraising from both Obama, and McCain, the Republican’s campaign agreed to volunteer more information about bundlers and small donors.

Obama’s campaign took a similar step on Thursday, updating its online
list of bundlers after The New York Times reported that he had not done so in more than six months, but hasn’t gone as far as McCain in offering information about its bundlers.

Here’s a question for the mayor

By ROCHELLE RILEY • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • July 11, 2008

I’m confused.

First Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says under oath that he did not have an affair.

Then he watches as hundreds of text messages about his affair circle the globe.

Then he goes on television with his wife and apologizes.

Bill for text-message scandal pinches county

Worthy: It could top $1 million
BY KATHLEEN GRAY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • July 11, 2008

The cost to prosecute the criminal case against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff will be $200,000 this year and could cost an additional $1 million next year, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told county commissioners this week.

Commissioner Kevin McNamara, D-Canton, said with severe budget cuts projected in the county Sheriff’s Office and Public Services Department, which handles roads, he’s unwilling to spend more money for the Kilpatrick case.

"Before I spend any more money on this, I’m going to protect my roads first," he said. "I think you’ve got a slam-dunk case. Why are we living through this nightmare?"

For Fox anchor, unlikely stumble

Revelations linking Fanchon Stinger to Detroit sludge deal shock her news colleagues.
Leonard N. Fleming and Mekeisha Madden Toby / The Detroit News

DETROIT — In the world of TV news personalities in Detroit, Fanchon Stinger was the rising anchorwoman who seemingly had it all: good looks, a charming personality and a fat-salaried position.

Stinger, 37, who began her career as an intern at Fox 2 Detroit, climbed fast and impressed many with her drive. She became an investigative reporter and then moved to the station’s morning show anchor chair in 2004. Her annual salary was more than $300,000.

But her meteoric career came crashing down this week. She was let go Thursday from Fox 2 following revelations that her own media company placed advertisements in connection with a Detroit sludge contract that is under federal investigation.

Candidates vie for Livonia’s 19th House District seat

Two Democrats, one Republican compete to replace term-limited incumbent John Pastor.
Steve Pardo / The Detroit News

LIVONIA — Creating jobs, cutting the budget and attracting new businesses are some of the top issues facing the Livonia candidates running for the 19th District House seat.

Republican incumbent John Pastor is term limited, meaning there will be a new face representing Livonia residents next year. Democrats Steve King and Jennifer Rutkey are on the Aug. 5 ballot. The sole Republican candidate is John Walsh, an attorney who was appointed executive director of Schoolcraft College in 2001 and is the chairman of the Livonia Planning Commission. He served a Livonia city councilmember from 1998-2001.

King and Walsh say they have experience in controlling budgets and both say jobs are a top priority, according to their responses in questionnaires distributed by The Detroit News. Rutkey didn’t fill out the questionnaire and didn’t return a telephone call Friday.

Democrats target state’s Chief Justice in new ad

By Dawson Bell • Free Press Staff Writer • July 11, 2008

LANSING - The first attack ad of this year’s contest for a key seat on the Michigan Supreme Court will be launched this weekend by the Michigan Democratic Party.

The ad takes a somewhat convoluted route to its target, Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, by calling on him not to block a ballot proposal backed by Democrats that makes extensive revisions to the state constitution.

Among the changes is a pay cut for judges, and the ad suggests Taylor, who is up for reelection in November, will have to choose between protecting "his salary and perks" or letting "the people vote for change."

Boom Vs. Gloom

By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, July 08, 2008 4:20 PM PT

According to the New York Times, John McCain’s economic advisers are agonizing over whether their candidate should balance the budget, as he recently promised to do by 2013, or extend the Bush tax cuts?

Then, at the end of an article on the supposed competition between supply-siders and deficit hawks, came the definitive answer from McCain senior economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin: "You’ll never have successful deficit-reduction without strong economic growth."

With unacceptably high fuel costs and an economy throttling down from the tax-cut-powered Bush expansion, this is no time for big tax hikes and a 21st-century version of LBJ’s Great Society domestic spending spree.

Locals flood GOP convention coffers

By TOM WEBB- ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS | 7/11/08 6:22 PM EST

The spectacle of the coming Republican National Convention will be brought to you by Minnesota’s major corporations, even more than planned.

Virtually every major Twin Cities company has given money to the convention’s local host committee, donated free services or both. The surprise has been the ratio of local donors to national money.

"They originally thought it would be a 50-50 split, and it’s looking more like 60 percent local and 40 percent national," said Teresa McFarland, spokeswoman for the host committee, which is charged with raising $58 million.

Lieberman Dismisses GOP Veep Speculation

ABC News’ Ron Claiborne Reports: Senator Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., says he has no interest in being Sen. John McCain’s running mate, preferring to remain in the Senate seat he’s held for the past 20 years.

"As regards the vice presidency, I really have been there and done that," Lieberman told ABC News in an interview airing on Saturday’s World News. "I am not a candidate. I am not interested in doing it. I hope John is elected president. I’m going to work hard to do that happens and I think the best thing I can do the help him be the great president I think he’s capable of being is to be Democratic senator working across party lines to get things done."

Do Obama’s changes hurt his candidacy?

Nancy Kruh

Pundits have been drizzling out questions about Barack Obama’s changing stances, but the candidate’s about-face vote Wednesday in favor of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act seems to have unleashed a hail of opinions.

"Everyone expects some alterations as the chosen candidate moves to the center for the general election," Froma Harrop writes. "But Obama hasn’t just shortened a sleeve here, taken in a waist there. He’s come out with a whole new summer wardrobe of policy positions."

The Providence Journal columnist suspects Obama is hoping "that, happy or not, the left has nowhere else to go. But the speed with which he chucked his promises suggests that he also regarded the intellectuals as an easier sell than they thought themselves."

Paid for by Michigan Republican Party

Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee

118 Days until Election Day

July 9, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

WHY McCAIN…because the country’s at war, the economy is struggling, oil prices are surging… AND OBAMA…is just an opportunistic and self-obsessed politician who will do and say anything to get elected.

DRILL AND SAVE…Democrats in Congress have been kowtowing to environmental extremists long enough. The radical left and the special interest groups that control the Democratic Party are keeping America from developing America’s oil reserves. The left and the environmental extremists who control the Democrat Party are standing in the way of safe, reasonable, exploration of oil in the United States.

We have all the technology and tools to develop domestic energy safely without hurting our environment if only Congress would stop listening to the special interest groups. We need to Drill and Save.

It’s time to end our dependence on foreign oil. Sign our e-petition today and tell Democrats that control Congress that enough is enough.

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THE REST OF THE STORY:

No further commentary today.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.

Race for state House heating up

With 44 reps forced out by term limits, Senate may become more powerful body.
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

LANSING — Campaigning for the Michigan House is revving up to full throttle as candidates seek to win the seats of 44 representatives who are being broomed out by term limits — including 25 in Metro Detroit.

The House will undergo a major overhaul that could put it at a disadvantage dealing with the Senate next year, where more experienced members will carry on. The 38 Senate seats are not up for election this year.

The House will lose 40 percent of its current members and the chairs of 10 key committees where the heavy lifting is done — including the heads of the Judiciary, Tax Policy, Commerce, Transportation, Energy and Technology, Insurance and Families and Children’s Services panels. It will lose a third of the 30-member House Appropriations Committee, which plays a key role in shaping how tax dollars are spent.

Granholm supports rewrite of constitution

Ballot proposal isn’t best way, she says
Dawson Bell • Special to the State Journal • July 9, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal

Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday endorsed the idea of rewriting Michigan’s constitution to modify the state’s political structure, but she’s not sure a ballot proposal is the way to do it.

Speaking to reporters at the state Capitol, Granholm said she wasn’t sure whether she would vote for the sweeping package of changes contained in a proposed amendment from a group calling itself Reform Michigan Government Now.

RMGN submitted petitions Monday to put the issue before voters in November, claiming to have collected the signatures of 487,000 registered voters. The petition drive, which operated in relative obscurity before attracting widespread public attention only a few weeks ago, has the backing of Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer. Top Republicans, on the other hand, view it as a stealth attempt by Democrats to take over all of state government.

FBI questions Collins about vote

Agents tell councilwoman two people linked her name to sludge deal payoff
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT — FBI agents told city Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins on Tuesday that she is the "subject" of a federal public corruption probe into accusations that city officials accepted money to approve a sludge-hauling contract, she confirmed.

Two agents came to her home unannounced about 8 a.m. Tuesday asking if she received money for voting in November for a contract that would pay Synagro Technologies Inc. of Houston $47 million to haul sludge. She said she told them "no" and added "nobody had to pay me off. I was always a yes vote."

Collins’ visit from the FBI is the latest twist in the federal investigation into a City Hall scandal to determine if cash had been doled out in exchange for votes and support on specific projects. Sources have confirmed that Councilwoman Monica Conyers is under investigation.

New claim that mayor lied hangs on 1 word

His answer on affairs can be debated
BY M.L. ELRICK and JOE SWICKARD • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 9, 2008

The prosecution’s hopes of expanding perjury charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to say he lied about affairs with several women hang on a fleeting exchange during a police whistle-blower trial last summer, the Free Press has learned.

On Aug. 29, Mike Stefani, the attorney for two cops suing Kilpatrick and the city for retaliating against them, asked the mayor a series of questions under oath.

"You said you don’t whore around on your wife?" Stefani asked.

McCain-Romney buzz fires up Michiganders

BY KATHLEEN GRAY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • July 9, 2008

He cuts a stately profile with his well-tailored suits, perfectly coiffed hair and a family straight out of central casting, but he’s no movie star.

The buzz surrounding Mitt Romney, a Michigan son and former Massachusetts governor, is all about the Republican presidential ticket and whether he lands on it as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

Bloggers and political pundits have been speculating for weeks that Romney is at the top of a short list of Republicans who can give presumptive Republican nominee John McCain what he needs to win the White House: business, organizational and government experience — as well as deep roots in Michigan, a state with 17 electoral votes that is shaping up as a key battleground in 2008.

McCain: Spending is out of control

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain on Tuesday brushed off skepticism from economists and insisted he could balance the budget by 2013 by keeping taxes low and curbing spending.

"We’re going to restrain spending, we’re going to have the economy grow again and increase revenues. The problem is that spending got completely out of control," McCain said on CNN’s "American Morning."

McCain is in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2010.

Que? Obama says nation’s kids should be bilingual

In an under-covered moment I only caught by streaming the event online, Sen. Barack Obama told voters today in Powder Springs, Georgia, they should not be worried about making the United States an "English-only" country.

He said he agrees immigrants should learn English, but felt the concern should be more about global competitiveness.

"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, because they will learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish," he said. "We should have every child speaking more than one language."

Congressional Performance

Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008.

The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month.

Obama running in place on Iraq

By ROGER SIMON | 7/8/08 8:10 PM EST

"Is Your Trip Necessary?"

That was the famous question asked on a poster distributed by the U.S. government during World War II. The government wanted citizens to curtail unnecessary travel in order to preserve precious resources needed for the war effort.

Today many Americans are asking themselves if their summer driving vacations are really necessary because of the high cost of fuel.

Iraq raises idea of timetable for US withdrawal

QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SEBASTIAN ABBOT ASSOCIATED PRESS
Originally published 01:39 a.m., July 8, 2008, updated 12:51 a.m., July 8, 2008

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq’s prime minister said Monday his country wants some type of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating.

It was the first time that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has explicitly and publicly called for a withdrawal timetable _ an idea opposed by President Bush.

He offered no details. But his national security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, told The Associated Press that the government is proposing a timetable conditioned on the ability of Iraqi forces to provide security.

131 Days until Election Day

June 26, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

CONNIE BINSFELD DINNER TONIGHT…with Governor John Engler as our special guest up in Traverse City. Local Republicans are raising money for a plaque to honor Connie at our headquarters.

PRESIDENT BUSH FIRES UP THE TROOPS…with a stirring speech he delivered in Livonia last night. Hundreds of volunteers and donors showed up to hear the president and support our efforts for the fall election. He did a great job, honoring some of our first responders, thanking some Boy Scout heroes and firing up our Republican activists to fight on this fall and send John McCain to the White House.

CHANGE…OBAMA’S PROMISE…is something we need to understand. The President highlighted the “change” the Democrats were offering. Higher taxes, a cut and run strategy in Iraq, more government, and a false sense of optimism….it sounds like Granholm’s promise to “blow us away”. Unemployment…foreclosure…deficit spending…thanks to the Democrats.

BUSH PUSHES HOOGENDYK, TAYLOR AND THE STATE HOUSE…as he talked about how important it was to send good Republicans to fight for a stronger Michigan and America. He also thanked AG Mike Cox and Sheriff Mike Bouchard for their service to our state and the GOP!

GREAT NIGHT FOR THE MICHIGAN GOP…as everyone who attended attested to. We are excited and united to elect John McCain the next President of the United States.

SPECIAL THANKS…to Dinner Chairman Attorney General Mike Cox and some of our top ticket sellers State Representative Bill Huizenga and Ingham County Chairman Norm Shinkle. Great teamwork by all involved. Thanks again!

LATEST GALLUP POLL…TIED…McCain and Obama are tied in the latest national Gallup Poll…45% each! These are great numbers for us at this stage of the race.

WHY THIS ELECTION MATTERS…RAPE…The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child.
In a 5-4 vote, the court says the law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in cases of child rape violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. We can’t afford any more liberal judges…the kind Obama would appoint.

VOTER FRAUD…is it really an issue. Check this site to get a better idea of what we might be up against this fall. http://www.gop.com/ycmtu.htm

ATTENTION REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES, CAMPAIGN MANGERS, AND ACTIVISTS…The Michigan Republican Party, in partnership with the Republican National Committee, is excited to announce…GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) TRAINING SEMINARS (more below).

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GOTV TRAINING SEMINARS…led by the RNC’s Political Education Team, are a great resource for first time candidates and campaign managers, as well as veterans alike.

Also very valuable for grassroots activists who simply want to get involved to help elect our Republican candidates at all levels!!

WHO: Any Republican candidate for office (any level) or grassroots activists

WHAT: GOTV Training (putting together a campaign, essentials of voter contact, Voter Vault training, and more)

WHEN: Two identical seminars to chose from:

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN
Saturday, June 28th
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Ram’s Horn Restaurant Banquet Center
56129 Van Dyke, Shelby Twp 48316

MID MICHIGAN
Sunday, June 29th
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Radisson Lansing Hotel
111 N. Grand River Avenue, Lansing 48933

COST: FREE….lunch included!! SPACE IS LIMITED!
PLEASE RSVP by Wednesday, June 25th to JASON GEER (jgeer@migop.org or phone: 517-487-5413).

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.

Bush touts McCain’s experience, judgment at Livonia fund-raiser

BY KATHLEEN GRAY and ERIC LAWRENCE • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 25, 2008

His approval ratings may be at historic lows, but President George W. Bush still attracted more than 300 people who wrote checks totaling about $500,000 for a Livonia fund-raiser this afternoon to support Republican candidates in the 2008 election.

“Hey, he’s human,” said Susan Evans, 36, of Rochester Hills, who was one of about half a dozen people who stood at the steps of Air Force One and greeted the president when he arrived Wednesday afternoon at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus.

“Everything is cyclical with the economy, especially in Michigan, but you have to look at all sources to blame. With Bush, you have to look at him from a historic perspective,” she said.

Bush visits Michigan, says McCain will win state

by The Associated Press
Wednesday June 25, 2008, 5:44 PM

LIVONIA — A jovial President Bush spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of 300 Republican donors, promoting Michigan candidates and presidential hopeful John McCain.

The president said he thinks that, with Michigan Republicans’ hard work, McCain will win the state in November.

He said the country needs a leader who is up the challenges the nation faces, including war, natural disasters and economic troubles.

Granholm, lawmakers have deal on state budget

Posted by David Eggert | The Associated Press June 25, 2008 18:21PM

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Top lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday tentatively agreed to a spending plan for state government next year, leaving some key details such as school funding to be sorted out by negotiators in coming days.

The state would spend about $44.4 billion in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, or 1.8 percent more than this year. That is at least $400 million less than what Granholm proposed in February.

Her budget plan had to be trimmed because Michigan’s sluggish economy is generating less tax revenue than expected. The federal economic stimulus plan, a poor housing market and successful new state tax subsidies luring the movie industry to the state also will shrink the budget, according to state economists.

Budget boosts school funds

Lawmakers, governor reach deal that would increase spending by about $72 per student.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

LANSING — Lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm have reached agreement on a new budget that will result in about a $72 per-pupil average increase in the basic state K-12 grant to public school districts throughout Michigan.

The amount is not final under Wednesday’s deal, but rather is a goal that will have to be finalized in House-Senate conference committees that today will start putting the closing touches on departmental budgets that make up the $44-billion state spending plan.

Matt Marsden, press spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, confirmed that leaders and Granholm had come to an understanding on the budget late in the afternoon.

‘Reform’ petition is a grab for control of the courts

The Detroit News

Getting rid of some state lawmakers and cutting politicians’ salaries may sound good — but it’s sucker bait for a power grab of this state’s judiciary. The effect of a so-called government reform petition being circulated for the fall ballot primarily would be to oust a number of elected Republican judges.

The ballot proposal would rewrite substantial portions of the state Constitution. This is not the proper way to do so.

The ballot proposal is being circulated by a group called Reform Michigan Government Now. Its spokeswoman, former Democratic state Rep. Dianne Byrum, declined to say whether the petition drive has the financial support or organizational backing of the state Democratic Party, commenting only that it would file a statement when required by state law, which is this August.

Worthy hires extra staff for mayor’s case

Ten temporary workers to cost cash-strapped Wayne County $400K for five months.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News

DETROIT — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has hired 10 temporary employees — seven attorneys and three investigators — to help cover the extra work generated by the criminal investigation and prosecution of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Worthy said Wednesday.

The extra hires will cost the county $400,000 for the five months between May and September, county officials said. The total cost will depend on how long the Kilpatrick prosecution lasts and how long Worthy needs to keep them onboard.

Worthy’s prosecution of Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty on perjury and other felony charges related to the text message scandal — already controversial because of the nature of the case and the high office Kilpatrick holds — is stirring further controversy due to its expense as the county faces a $33 million budget deficit and the possible layoffs of more than 100 employees.

McCain-Obama So Far: Positively Negative

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 26, 2008; Page A06

A campaign between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain once offered enormous possibilities for something new. Instead, the two presumptive nominees have opened their campaigns for the White House with what looks and sounds like a repeat of the kind of politics both have promised to leave behind.

Since Obama (D-Ill.) wrapped up the Democratic nomination a few weeks ago, he and McCain (R-Ariz.) have served up a series of indignant exchanges over foreign policy, terrorism, the economy, energy and campaign money. Their aides have gone further, with snarling put-downs in conference calls and taunting e-mails that flow constantly out of the Chicago and Crystal City headquarters.

McCain vows U.S. energy independence by 2025

‘Lexington Project’ still omits ANWR drilling
Stephen Dinan THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sen. John McCain vowed Wednesday to break OPEC’s stranglehold on U.S. energy and to have the country achieve what he termed “strategic” energy independence by 2025, saying he will pursue almost every option for conservation and new production.

“Never again will we leave our vital interests at the mercy of any foreign power,” Mr. McCain said in a speech in Las Vegas, casting energy as a national security issue and calling for “new production, building nuclear plants, perfecting clean coal, improving our electricity grid, and supporting all the new technologies that one day will put the age of fossil fuels behind us.”

Assessing the Dem Primary Fallout

Posted by TOM BEVAN

Since the end of the Democratic primary the $64,000 question has been, “how many Hillary Clinton supporters were so disappointed and disillusioned by the outcome that they won’t support Obama and will cross over and vote for John McCain this fall?”

It’s an impossible question to answer, especially at this point in the campaign when the general election is just barely underway. But we do have some recent polls that give us a glimpse at where things stand right now.

In addition to breaking down the general election vote by party, the most recent Fox News and Newsweek polls drilled down to focus on how Hillary Clinton primary voters are indicating they will vote in November.

Justices Bar Death Penalty for the Rape of a Child

By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - The death penalty is unconstitutional as a punishment for the rape of a child, a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

The 5-to-4 decision overturned death penalty laws in Louisiana and five other states. The only two men in the country who have been sentenced to death for the crime of child rape, both in Louisiana, will receive new sentences of life without parole.

The court went beyond the question in the case to rule out the death penalty for any individual crime - as opposed to “offenses against the state,” like treason or espionage - “where the victim’s life was not taken.”

147 Days until Election Day

June 10, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

MICHIGAN BUSINESS TAX….the new and worst version of the Single Business Tax… The Granholm Fix. Check out how to take advantage of some of the new tax breaks.
http://www.rightmichigan.com/section/Multimedia

OBAMA’S RECORD ON TAXES…doesn’t make sense for Michigan. Barack Obama’s self-proclaimed “change we need” should read instead as the change Michigan working families cannot afford after an examination of the Democrat’s record shows a long list of supporting Democrat tax increases that have raised the cost of living on middle class families. More below.

OBAMA BACK IN MICHIGAN…for a third time in less than a month. Michigan is a battleground state and Obama has to explain why he boycotted our state for 2 years, why he bashes the domestic auto industry, why he thinks Jennifer Granholm’s failed tax and spend policies will work in America….look what they have done here.
If you like what Jennifer Granholm has done for Michigan, you’re going to love what Barack Obama is going to do to America.
Taxing production, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship is NOT going to work. A huge increase in the federal government, government programs, and government spending is NOT going to help our economic situation. Obama is wrong for Michigan…and wrong for America. Pay attention folks, it’s going to cost us dearly.

OBAMA’S LEGISLATIVE RECORD…here is an interview that Chris Matthew’s conducted asking about Obama’s legislative record…his accomplishments…it almost hurts to watch it…almost J
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/06/obamadoesnt-hav.html

ELLY PETERSON RIP…longtime Republican activists and former State Chair died this week. She was 95. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.

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Michigan Republican Party Press Release:

Obama’s Agenda will skyrocket MI’s cost of living
Déjà vu for Michigan residents as Democrats select Obama
Nominee has record of raising taxes and failed judgment

LANSING - Barack Obama’s self-proclaimed “change we need” should read instead as the change Michigan working families cannot afford after an examination of the Democrat’s record shows a long list of supporting Democrat tax increases that have raised the cost of living on middle class families.

Barack Obama voted 94 times for tax increases that raise the cost of living on working families in just three short years as a U.S. Senator. As a candidate, he has promised higher income taxes, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and tax hikes on job creating businesses. Less than a year after Granholm and Democrats rammed the largest tax increase down the throats of Michigan families and small businesses, Obama’s seemingly limitless spending proposals will continue the Democrat’s assault on Michigan’s middle class.

“Obama’s laundry list of taxes is all too familiar to Michigan residents,” said Daniel Acciavatti, Republican vice-chair of the House Appropriations committee. “Michigan families and businesses have been battered with more taxes than they can afford, an ever increasing cost of living, and remain the nation’s leader in unemployment.”

“Obama continues to ignore Michigan’s feeble condition as he voices support for change, change through more taxes. We need change we can afford. Government needs to live within its means, led by a proven leader who has a record of frugal fiscal responsibility,” added House Republican Leader Craig DeRoche.

Last year, residents of Michigan were promised by their governor that her tax only cost pennies, but those pennies to date have exceeded $85 billion taken from taxpayers’ pockets-the cost of living has soared and will continue to increase through the Obama agenda. During just three years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama has already voted 94 times for higher taxes. Obama’s record is too familiar to the businesses and families, the victims of Michigan’s economic recession since Democrats have controlled the executive branch and state House.

“I am shocked he has the audacity to suggest we can afford this change. He doesn’t understand Michigan’s economy, he continues to lambaste the auto industry, and unfortunately Michigan residents have seen first hand that further taxation will remove more families from prosperity and place them into the gripe of poverty, he is not ready to be president,” Acciavatti said.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.

Obama courts Michigan, focuses on economy

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Barack Obama kicked off a two-week campaign swing Monday seeking to focus the presidential campaign on the economy — a tour that will include stops in Michigan next week.

Aides said Monday that Obama will be in Detroit for a fundraiser at the Renaissance Center, and a public event of some sort — though there were no details on the event.

Obama’s third visit to Michigan in a month will focus on the No. 1 issue for Michigan voters and those in most other states across the country: the economy.

Council trio to gov: Drop mayor action

Letter to Granholm says Kilpatrick didn’t deceive them on whistle-blower case.
Christine MacDonald and David Josar / The Detroit News

DETROIT — A faction of the City Council opposed to ousting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is urging Gov. Jennifer Granholm not to remove him, saying they weren’t deceived into an $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement at the heart of the mayoral scandal.

Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers sent a letter May 27 that asks Granholm to refrain from using state powers that allow governors to unseat elected officials for misconduct. The letter disputes the council’s claim that Kilpatrick violated the city charter, claiming there is “no factual basis whatsoever” that members were duped into the deal.

That claim is “self-serving for some,” an apparent dig at Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., who backs Kilpatrick’s removal and would temporarily become mayor.

Ex-Kilpatrick bodyguard files whistle-blower suit

By BEN SCHMITT and M.L. ELRICK • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 9, 2008

A former bodyguard for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick filed a whistle blower lawsuit today claiming he was harassed and intimidated during his tenure on the security detail and told by supervisors to keep quiet during an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by the mayor and his inner circle.

Officer Tony Davis, who now works in the department’s gaming division, filed the lawsuit Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court, laying out serious of allegations which include mayoral philandering

One of Kilpatrick’s lawyers, Jim Parkman, called the lawsuit “ridiculous,” during an evening press conference in response to the allegations.

City contracts for mayor’s friend to get a second look Detroit
Panel to review water main bids

BY BEN SCHMITT and M.L. ELRICK • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 10, 2008

A Detroit City Council committee placed a hold on two water-main contracts Monday totaling about $4.4 million that were destined for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s friend Bobby Ferguson, citing a need for further analysis.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel told members of the Public Health and Safety Committee to hold off on sending the contracts to the full council until other bids are re-examined.

“There is a question of appearances,” Cockrel said of Ferguson’s close relationship to the mayor after Monday’s hearing. “And a question of setting proper boundaries.”

Congress, Get Off Your Gas, and Drill

By Chuck Norris

Last Thursday, oil prices increased $5.50 per barrel in one day. Last Friday marked the biggest single-day surge in oil price history, rocketing $11 more to $138 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In just two days, oil costs increased 13 percent.

Average Americans literally are driving to the poorhouse on financial fumes. With gas at $4 per gallon, roughly two cars in every household, and the average annual gas usage at 700 gallons, you do the math. Americans are being forced to use their hard-earned money that once put food in their stomachs to put petroleum in their tanks and to drive the exact same distances they drove a decade ago for four to five times the price.

McCain says using Google to vet VP candidates

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - It turns out choosing a vice president isn’t that complicated after all.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain joked on Monday that Google, the popular Internet search engine, had made investigating his list of potential candidates a little bit easier.

“You know, basically it’s a Google,” he said to laughter at a fund-raising luncheon when asked how the selection process was going. “What you can find out now on the Internet — it’s remarkable.”

Obama Veep Vetters Meet Pelosi, Other Top Dems

Right now, according to a Democratic aide, former deputy AG Eric Holder and Perseus LLC vice chairman James Johnson are meeting on with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The meeting is in Pelosi’s office on Capitol Hill.

Here’s what this tells me:

The veepstakes process is in the information gathering phase; the vetters will interview dozens of Democratic officials and get a sense from them what they think about any number of candidates and potential issues. After the information gathering phase comes the vetting phase, where candidates turn over reams of information and sit through hours-long interviews with discrete lawyers.

Dream On

by The Editors

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination may be over and Barack Obama may be its winner. But the Clinton family drama goes on. Early this week, as the final primaries took place and the mathematical reality of delegate counts became impossible to deny, Hillary Clinton let it be known that, yes, she’d consider accepting the vice-presidential nomination if Obama offered it to her. The statement gave instant political credibility to an idea already popular in some quarters. For many of Clinton’s disappointed supporters, putting her on the ticket is a moral imperative: By virtue of her close second- place finish in delegates and popular votes, Clinton earned the vice presidential nomination. To more disinterested observers, choosing Clinton would represent a savvy strategic choice: During the primaries, her strongest support came primarily from those voters–the white working class and Latinos– with whom Obama has famously struggled. Putting Clinton on the ticket, according to this argument, solves that problem. It is, say proponents of the scheme, a true Dream Ticket.

What Should Hillary Do Now?

A Symposium
Tuesday, June 10, 2008; 12:01 AM

Now that she’s officially announced the end of her presidential campaign, what’s next for Hillary Clinton? The Post asked five opinion leaders, representing a variety of viewpoints, to weigh in. Here are their responses:

John Zogby, pollster and president of Zogby International:

As his basketball career was coming to a close, Bill Bradley wrote eloquently about what happens when the lights dim and the cheerleaders and fans start following the younger starts. He did just fine proving that there are second acts in life. Other great second acts include Ted Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, who both reached for the brass rail but found their meaning in the Senate. Jimmy Carter defines second-act stardom, his most effective years coming after his presidency.

Elly Peterson: 1st woman to lead state Republicans

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF • FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF • June 10, 2008

Elly Peterson made history as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party in 1965 — the first woman to head either state party.

She made a mark recruiting young moderates to run for office in what was then a moribund party.

She made waves in 1982 when she endorsed Democrat James Blanchard for governor over Republican nominee Richard Headlee, whom she labeled too conservative.

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148 Days until Election Day

June 9, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

OBAMA’S LEGISLATIVE RECORD…here is an interview that Chris Matthew’s conducted asking about Obama’s legislative record…his accomplishments…it almost hurts to watch it…almost .

CARD CHECK…Protect the workers’ right to a secret ballot. The vast majority (around 81%) of Americans believe that American workers have a right to have a secret ballot election before they are forced to join a union. Last year the House Democrats passed a bill that would strip American workers of the secret ballot. A new bill should be introduced reaffirming that right, and it should be brought up again and again until marginal Democrats are forced to vote with the American people against the union power structure.  This, coming from a Teamster.

TALK RADIO 1400 AM…I’ve become a weekly guest on the Hughes Sullivan Show on WDTK-AM 1400, which is broadcast in metro Detroit every evening.  I am scheduled to regularly appear Mondays and Fridays between 8:15-8:45 pm. Good, conservative talk radio.  You can hear it here.

THE BIG SHOW…every Tuesday morning, Democrat State Chair Mark Brewer and I go head to head on WJIM with Michael Patrick Shiels and discuss the issues of the day.  The Big Show is heard statewide on many local stations.  You can hear it online at here.

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Barack Obama returns to Michigan next week

Posted by The Associated Press June 09, 2008 04:52AM

DETROIT — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will hold a campaign stop and a fundraiser in Detroit on June 16.

A spokeswoman for the Illinois senator made the announcement Sunday.

It will mark Obama’s third campaign stop in Michigan in a little more than a month.

Obama Maps a Nationwide Push in G.O.P. Strongholds

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY
Published: June 8, 2008

WASHINGTON - Senator Barack Obama’s general election plan calls for broadening the electoral map by challenging Senator John McCain in typically Republican states - from North Carolina to Missouri to Montana - as Mr. Obama seeks to take advantage of voter turnout operations built in nearly 50 states in the long Democratic nomination battle, aides said.

On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina - a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years - to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy. From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.

Obama’s VP hand

Monday, June 9, 2008

Barack Obama has considerable time to undergo the kind of vetting process he will need to select the best possible running mate. He already has exposed his hand (unlike his chief opponent, Republican John McCain.) The most important factor is putting together a winning ticket now that Democratic primary and caucus voters have proven that theirs is a party deeply divided.

Mr. Obama announced his vice-presidential selection team following his victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Already, he has come under fire, and rightly so. Mr. Obama is being criticized for naming former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder as one of three people vetting his vice-presidential selection. Mr. Holder (who had previously served as the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia), failed to notify the Justice Department and New York prosecutors during the Clinton administration’s consideration of a pardon for Marc Rich - the tax-evading, illegal-trading, racketeer billionaire, who avoided prosecution by fleeing to Switzerland and renouncing his citizenship. Then-President Clinton pardoned Mr. Rich during the closing days of his second term.

A Campaign We Can Believe In?

By William Kristol
Published: June 9, 2008

Hillary Clinton’s concession speech Saturday was the story of the weekend. But the dueling speeches by John McCain and Barack Obama on Tuesday night, after the last primaries, are what voters - and campaign operatives - should be revisiting.

McCain chose to speak early in the evening, before the polls closed in South Dakota and Montana, thereby getting the jump on Obama. He read a disjointed set of remarks at a badly staged rally at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, La. Here’s part of an e-mail message I received as McCain spoke, from a Republican who admires him: "They could have done so well tonight, shown a tone of confidence. Instead it looks like a bad Congressional race: dumb green puke background, small crowd … Makes me want to cry."

Campaign Adds to Complicated Clinton Legacy

By JOHN M. BRODER and ROBIN TONER
Published: June 9, 2008

WASHINGTON - Bill and Hillary Clinton have stirred virulent passions in their nearly two decades in the national spotlight. They have been known as many things, good and bad - brilliant policy analysts, manipulators of facts and friends, tireless campaigners, skillful political tacticians, monumentally self-absorbed baby boomers. But most of all they were known as winners.

Until now.

Mrs. Clinton, who survived public humiliation as first lady and then easily won two Senate races in New York, entered the 2008 presidential primary season as the odds-on favorite because of money, connections and celebrity. But through a series of blunders and the appearance of a once-in-a-lifetime opponent, Mrs. Clinton saw the prize slip through her grasp despite a valiant personal effort that lasted through the final contests in South Dakota and Montana.

Debate still rages on impact of tax cuts

David M. Dickson THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Monday, June 9, 2008

At a White House event last week commemorating the fifth anniversary of the 2003 tax cuts and the seventh anniversary of the 2001 tax cuts, President Bush hailed the "52 months of uninterrupted job growth" that commenced shortly after the 2003 tax cuts were passed.

"There’s no question that the tax cuts provided economic vitality," Mr. Bush said.

However, politicians and economists disagree about the extent of the economic benefits generated by the tax cuts.

Biz tax, surcharge threat to job creation

Stardock Corp. is the kind of company Michigan could use more of.

It’s a 21st century technology and entertainment company. It makes computer games and software. It employs 55 people. Revenue this year may reach $18 million.

But it may be leaving Plymouth Township because its state tax liability has soared from about $1,200 under the Single Business Tax to as much as $168,000 under the Michigan Business Tax, with its surcharge. (See story, Page 1.)

Mayor Kilpatrick’s pal thrives on Detroit water dept. contracts

Change orders pump up cost of Ferguson’s deals; Kilpatrick, water board deny there’s favoritism
Robert Snell and Ron French / The Detroit News

DETROIT — A friend of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s has received at least $170 million in city contracts — $109 million from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department alone — since the mayor took office in 2002.

Bobby Ferguson, who has been at the mayor’s side at black-tie social events and on the backs of motorcycles, has long claimed the relationship hurts his general contracting company’s ability to land contracts. But an analysis of records by The Detroit News shows his share of water department contracts has jumped more than 20-fold since Kilpatrick took office. Half of them have doubled, tripled or almost quadrupled in price because of additional work — a cost that is spread among customers in 126 communities across southeast Michigan.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel called The News’ analysis "explosive."

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should have skipped Wings’ parade

June 9, 2008

The mayor should have stayed away Friday.

Instead, Kwame Kilpatrick made himself part of the story during the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup championship reception at Hart Plaza. The volume and decibel level of the booing were so deafening, you would have thought Matt Millen just stepped on stage.

I asked Wings owner Mike Ilitch on the ice at Mellon Arena following the clinching victory Wednesday night if he thought Kilpatrick should be present at the celebration, despite his political and legal difficulties. And Ilitch told me he couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t be there.

I said I could think

Right-to-work laws benefit states, workers

Douglas C. Buckler’s recent commentary ("Right-to-work laws hurt business climate," May 30) grossly mischaracterizes the economic benefits of allowing workers to freely choose whether or not to associate with a union.

Buckler suggests that right-to-work states suffer economic "penalties" for protecting workers from coercive unionization. While it’s hardly surprising to find a union official defending an arrangement that ensures his organization can pay him using the dues workers must pay or be fired, his selective use of statistics fails to capture the numerous economic advantages of Right to Work states.

The National Institute for Labor Relations Research has published a response to the deceptive, union-backed study cited by Buckler. The institute demonstrated that states that protect employees’ freedom of association enjoy higher real wages and lower costs of living. In other words, workers’ paychecks go much further in economically vibrant right-to-work states because the goods they purchase are significantly more affordable.

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149 Days until Election Day

June 8, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

CAMPAIGN SCHOOL…ends, after over 50 managers for various State Representative campaigns finished a 3-day, intensive campaign strategy and tactics seminar.  We feel we have recruited one of the strongest classes of candidates from across the state and are helping provide them with the tools to prepare for the fall campaign.

STATE COMMITTEE…ended with the adoption of the rules for the August state convention, which will be going out to all State Committee and County Chairs.  We also passed a resolution to consider Newt Gingrich’s Platform for the American People at our state convention, encouraging the national Platform Committee to consider adopting as many of those planks as possible.

STATEWIDE CANDIDATES…attending this weekend’s meetings included University of Michigan Regent candidates Carl Meyers and John LaFond…Wayne State Board of Governors candidates Torion Bridges and Danialle Karmanos and State Board of Education candidate Scott Jenkins.

McCAIN CAMPAIGN….coming to Michigan.  Scott Greenlee, Holly Hughes and Matt Hall updated us on the progress of the various campaign efforts.  We hope to have operations open and on the ground sometime next week.  There was a lot of excitement and commitment to take Michigan on behalf of Senator McCain.

WEST MICHIGAN FOR WALBERG… Doug DeVos, J.C. Huizenga, Mike Jandernoa and Steve Van Andel are hosting a luncheon fundraiser June 16th at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel from 12:00pm to 1:30pm.  For more information and RSVP contact Sandra Baxter at (616) 803-0496 or email her at SandraBaxterE@aol.com.

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Clinton throws ‘full support’ to Obama

By BEN SMITH | 6/7/08 2:37 PM EST

In the final speech of her bid for the White House, Hillary Rodham Clinton said things that she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, say during the 16 months she spent running for president.

She offered an unstinting, repeated endorsement of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, putting to rest any suggestion that she would play coy after a bruising primary campaign.

And she broke what had been a disciplined silence on women’s rights and women’s grievances, expressing an open feminism that she’d deliberately understated during the campaign.

How choosing Hillary would reflect on Obama

An axiom. When voters watch a presumptive presidential nominee considering this or that running mate, they think: What if the president dies? When the presumptive nominee considers this or that running mate, he thinks: What if I live?

Which brings us to the dotty idea that Barack Obama should choose to have Hillary Clinton down the hall in the West Wing, nursing her disappointments, her grievances and her future presidential ambitions while her excitable husband wanders in the wings of America’s political theater with his increasingly Vesuvian temper, his proclivity for verbal fender benders and his interesting business associates. That this idea survived her off-putting speech Tuesday night, after Obama won the right to choose a running mate, is evidence that many Democrats do not fathom the gratitude that less-blinkered Americans feel for Obama because he has closed the Clinton parenthesis in our presidential history.

After some of the boilerplate geographic pitter-patter that today’s candidates consider Periclean eloquence (" … from the hills of New Hampshire to the hollows of West Virginia … "), she obliquely but clearly identified herself as the person who would be "the strongest candidate and the strongest president" and, pointedly, the person most ready to "take charge as commander in chief." There is a fine line between admirable tenacity and delusional denial, and Clinton tiptoed across it.

For Clintons, an old dream finally fades

By JOHN F. HARRIS | 6/7/08 12:29 PM EST

This is not the end of the Clinton story. If we know anything about Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton it is that there is always another chapter, and it will not fail to be interesting.

But her departure from the presidential race Saturday almost certainly does mark the end of the longest and most important thread of the Clinton story.

For nearly 40 years, the presidency has been the organizing principle of their lives together. Her appearance at the National Building Museum to thank supporters and endorse Barack Obama represents the final, fading light of a shared dream.

Granholm, four other Michigan superdelegates endorse Obama

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

The core of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s support in Michigan threw its support to Sen. Barack Obama today, releasing a list of endorsements as Clinton suspended her campaign and gave her full-throated support to Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Saturday’s endorsements came from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Lt. Gov. John Cherry and U.S. Reps. John Dingell, Sander Levin and Dale Kildee.

"More than any other state in the nation, Michigan needs a president who will fight for Michigan and our working families," Granholm and Cherry said in a statement released just after Clinton completed her concession speech in Washington.

Some Clinton supporters refuse to back Obama

by Kyla King | The Grand Rapids Press
Saturday June 07, 2008, 7:22 AM

GRAND RAPIDS — Sen. Hillary Clinton may be ending her campaign Saturday and endorsing Sen. Barack Obama as the democratic presidential nominee, but don’t expect the same from Judy Hackett, one of Clinton’s Grand Rapids supporters.

The 67-year-old will not be voting for Obama and wishes her preferred candidate would start a "third independent party."

"I would never vote for him even if she’s on the ticket," said Hackett, a retired social worker. "There would be a lot of Republicans I would not vote for; I would just stay home.

More states go into play for presidency

Almost precisely at the midpoint between the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the general election on Nov. 4, the general election campaign is on. Neither party’s nominee swept the primaries. John McCain’s narrow popular vote margins in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and most of the Super Tuesday states, combined with the Republicans’ winner-take-all delegate allocation rules, effectively gave him the Republican nomination on Feb. 6. Mike Huckabee made it official by withdrawing after the March 4 Texas and Ohio primaries.

Barack Obama’s big delegate margins in caucus states, combined with Democrats’ proportionate representation rules, gave him what proved to be an insurmountable lead in February, when he won 11 straight contests. Hillary Clinton carried the popular vote (unless you allocate all the "uncommitted" votes in Michigan to Obama), but could not overtake Obama’s delegate lead. The super-delegates gave Obama a delegate majority by the evening of the last primaries on June 3. It took Clinton another 24 hours to decide to end her candidacy, after it became clear that Obama wouldn’t be stampeded into making her his vice presidential nominee.

State House hoists anti-business flag

CEO Magazine asked the top executives of 605 American companies to rank the states based on the best and worst places to do business. Michigan finished third from the bottom.

But don’t worry — House Democrats are working for all their worth to claim the No. 1 worst state title for Michigan.

Since the start of the year, the Democratic-controlled House has moved a flurry of bills that, if adopted, would make Michigan even less competitive for jobs and investment. Among them:

• An identity theft package that would require businesses to notify individuals each time their personal information is transferred outside the company’s data base. The result would be a costly paperwork nightmare for nearly every business and organization in the state that maintains computer files on customers, members or employees.

State House fuss over Ford Airport funds may be misguided

Posted by Ken Kolker | The Grand Rapids Press June 07, 2008 23:12PM

GRAND RAPIDS — State House Republicans are expressing outrage over what they call political games by Democrats that could cost Gerald R. Ford International Airport millions of dollars and leave two projects on the drawing board.

But airport officials say the situation is not as dire as it is being portrayed locally, and some of the critics concede they are fuzzy on facts.

"I don’t know the details of what the projects are, but I know they’re crucial," said state Rep. Kevin Green, R-Wyoming, who is quoted in a Republican press release slamming Democrats and describing the potential loss of $9 million in federal funds to Ford airport.

Don’t bet on Fieger fallout

Case won’t faze campaign finance law, experts say
BY DAWSON BELL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 8, 2008

Geoffrey Fieger’s acquittal in federal court last week — cleared of campaign finance crimes after admitting to reimbursing friends and employees for their campaign donations –might make some people believe such practices are kosher.

But don’t count on it.

Campaign finance experts contacted by the Free Press last week were unanimous in their view about what Fieger’s acquittal means for the future of campaign finance law enforcement: next to nothing.

Imposing fiscal discipline

Newt Gingrich
Sunday, June 8, 2008

total spending must be less than total revenue. Of course, just because this model is simple doesn’t mean it is easy to achieve. However, it is possible.

I know because from 1995 to 1997, John Kasich, Budget Committee Chairman; Bill Archer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman; Bob Livingston, Appropriations Committee Chairman; Majority Leader Dick Armey and I worked to balance the federal budget. We applied a set of common-sense principles that worked, leading to budget surpluses from 1997 to 2000.

First, we were prepared to reduce discretionary spending, eliminate waste, challenge traditional inefficiencies and take on fraud. We also were ready to tell stubborn bureaucracies they had to achieve more with less, just like the private sector had been doing for years.

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210 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

Granholm signs tax credits and rebates to attract “movie making jobs” to Michigan. Maybe the Governor has learned an important lesson and will help make ALL of Michigan’s businesses “the most competitive” in the country and help attract real jobs back to Michigan. Wishful thinking…no Hollywood stars in factories?

Democrat Andy Dillon’s “blockers” are harassing recall petition signature collectors…this is outrageous. See the news story…where is the ACLU when you really need them? This could backfire on them as citizens “revolt” and sign the petitions.

State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk is in the middle of his petition collection efforts. There are only 5 weeks left…we need your help. If you would like to help, please sign up at his web site at:

http://www.jackformichigan.org/

http://jackformichigan.org/petitions/

We want to thank each person for the help they have given to Jack’s campaign! The race still needs your help – Jack needs 20,000 signatures by May 13 to get his name on the ballot. Please check out instructions on how to download and distribute a petition formhere . Thank you!

223 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the state could not create or disseminate information identifying voter participation in the Republican and Democrat primaries on Jan. 15. We would argue therefore the list should be available to anyone who requests them.

The budget process continues to work its way through the state Senate. The Governor’s proposed budget is too expensive in some areas and shortchanges others. She is clearly playing games with the budget…again. This could be setting us up for another “revenue enhancement”…i.e. tax increase.

Frustration with the governor and Democrats is one of the main reasons folks are talking about enacting a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to raise taxes. This maybe the only way to avoid another tax increase from being rammed down Michigan taxpayer’s throats.

I taped “Michigan Matters” yesterday with Carol Cain which will air this weekend. “Michigan Matters” airs Saturday on CBS—WWJTV Detroit at 11 a.m. and will repeat on Sunday on CW 50 (Channel 50) at 11:30 a.m.

BECOME A PRECINCT DELEGATE!

Fill out and return the Affidavit of Identity to your county clerk or send it to the state party…we’ll handle the filings. Link to form. Many folks have asked…what does a precinct delegate do?  Here is some basic information about how we try and organize our precinct delegates to be part of our “political machine” to help elect Republicans.

State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk has started his petition collection efforts. If you would like to help, please sign up at his Web site at: http://www.jackformichigan.org/

225 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

State budget battles start…Governor Granholm and the Democrats want to spend money we don’t have…again. Does someone see a pattern?

The Governor and her Democrat cronies are proposing to “borrow” if needed, and once again put Michigan taxpayers at risk. NO reforms, NO cuts, NO living within ones’ means??? Taxpayers…are you listening? Why are we losing jobs? Why are people leaving our state? Why are college graduates (our future) looking elsewhere for work?

With an approximately $44 BILLION dollar budget and just following the largest tax increase in Michigan’s history…Democrats are at it again.

Congressman Bart Stupak’s vulnerability grows as another Republican enters the race for Congress. Linda Goldthorpe joins Tom Casperson in challenging Stupak, whose politics have shifted toward his leader, San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi.

For more info: http://www.goldthorpeforcongress.com/

IRAQ: one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Ramadi, has seen huge strides in their political and security situation. Please read more below.

I had a series of questions how the “optional flat tax” or “Fair Tax” would work. Here are two sites that give you more explanation:

http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2008/03/optional-flat-t.html

http://www.fairtaxmi.org/

Jack Hoogendyk has started his petition collection efforts. If you would like to help, please sign up at his website at: http://www.jackformichigan.org/

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228 Days until Election DayMORNING UPDATE:A state run Democrat “do-over” Presidential Primary election seems to be “dead in the water”. As Clinton supporters maneuvered to get something passed, Obama supporters quietly worked to stop it. This was all inside baseball on the Dem front and Republicans got to sit back and watch!TAXPAYER WARNING: Apparently the House Democrats didn’t learn anything from last year’s budget debacle. They are once again spending more than we can afford, setting the stage for another tax hike in the near future. More info below.Maybe enacting constitutional amendments requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature to raise taxes isn’t such a bad idea. I remember Sheriff Mike Bouchard pushed something like this when he was in the State Senate.There will be NO Articles or Commentary on Easter Sunday. Read the rest of the Commentary: www.migop.blogs.com