Wednesday’s political round-up

April 20, 2005

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Hot off the presses, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey with a big lead over Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum, 49% to 35%. In February, Casey led by five (46-41). 34% of poll respondents said they were less likely to vote for Santorum in light of his highly visible role in the Terri Schiavo case. One in four say Santorum is “too conservative.”

* Former Sen. Bob Kerrey’s on-again, off-again interest in the New York mayoral race is apparently over. Kerrey said yesterday he had decided against running and will continue to serve as president of the New School University.

* While Republicans have had trouble finding a top-tier candidate to take on Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) next year, they’re still working on it. Ronald Weiser, a former U.S. ambassador to Slovakia and major Republican Party fundraiser, met yesterday with the National Republican Senatorial Committee to discuss the race.

* Speaking of Michigan, a new Republican poll shows Rep. Candice Miller (R) within striking distance of Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), trailing 46 percent to 43 percent, in a hypothetical match-up. Miller was originally encouraged to run for the Senate, but seems to be more interested in the gubernatorial race.

* With Rep. Jim Gibbons (R) planning to give up his seat to run for governor, his wife, former state legislator Dawn Gibbons, appears ready to run for the seat. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) held a fundraiser for her last week.

* As expected, Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox (D) officially launched her campaign for governor yesterday. Cox promised to bridge the gap between Republicans and fellow Democrats in the legislature.

Candice Miller in Michigan has a lot of name recognition since she was formerly the Secretary of State. She did a great job of streamlining the offices, getting more stuff online like license renewals, and so on. She really did a great job. She’ll have plenty to crow about in a gov campaign.

Currently the repub majority in Michigan is socking it to Granholm, but the gov has had the last laugh recently when she scored big by luring more of Toyota’s US operations to Michigan. They expect to generate more than 1000 new jobs, which is great news. I hope Granholm can continue to get more wins for a state that is at the top of the unemployment lists, especially if it gets her re-elected.

  • Michigan’s economy and its budget have been so fucked by Engler (the never-worked-in-the-private-sector-always-eating-at-the-public-trough-pig of a governor for the 12 years before Granholm), by outsourcing that has cost the state tens of thousands of jobs, and with Engler’s tax cuts, there is little hope for the near term. Michigan leads the country with the highest unemployment rate. With GM’s troubles, who knows? Granholm is leading the way with a proposal to spend three BILLION dollars on electric and alternative fuels research, but with Repugs in control of the Legislature and wanting still more tax cuts, I’m afraid the backbone of Michigan — the automobile — is going down the crapper and the Repugs are GLEEFULLY AND INSANELY pushing the handle on the toilet. And the weather here in Michigan today is just as gloomy as our future here.

    And a note to Don above, Miller had the good fortune of following a long time Dem, and came in when Michigan (as with most states as well as nationally) was doing well financially; of course the shit hit the fan with Bush, pushing Medicaid and other mandates onto the state (No Child Left Behind, homeland security, etc) that he failed to fund. At some point the Repugs will realize that tax cuts for the wealthy DO NOT even produce as much added tax revenue as they cost, and in fact cause HUGE tax drains that are permanent. Is it any wonder that 90% of our state’s school districts are in serious financial trouble? And that is not even talking about the schools’ buildings and other infrastructure. Then just look at the battle in the State Department of Education regarding the Superintendent of State Instruction! Trouble, thy name is Michigan. 🙁

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