There is no evidence that the establishment is overruling the will of the people in the Democratic primary 1) Clinton has consistently led national match-ups. Sanders was gaining ground on her, but that appears to have stopped and even reversed. At no point in the entire cycle has he led the Huffington Post polling average. If we went back now […]

I have never voted for a Republican in a general election in my life. Not once. But I voted in the Michigan Republican primary today because I believe any of the other Republican candidates will be better for the country — as nominee or as president — than Donald Trump.

And here’s why. Read this piece in the Washington post today about the influence of Trump on school kids.

If Congressman Upton can do the right thing, so can Senators Peters and Stabenow People who complain about immigration often say they just want people to come to this country “the right way.” Well, here is a chance to support someone who has done everything he was supposed to and may nonetheless be deported on Christmas Eve. Despite the fact […]

To get and keep a job, you need a reliable way to get there. If you lose your job – particularly if your income was low to start with – affording and maintaining a reliable vehicle is difficult, maybe impossible. And without a reliable vehicle, it’s harder to get or keep a job. Especially in areas, like much of Southeast […]

Blame politicians, not the voters, for Prop 1’s failure I want to be clear that, like the other authors on this site, I voted for Prop 1 and am disappointed that it failed. We need to fix the roads. I think increasing the gas tax is an appropriate way to pay for that. And Michigan’s low-income workers lose out without […]

So why did he wait until after the election?

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll is making news with President Obama at an approval ratings 50% for the first time in over a year. Other polls show his rating improving as well. Look at Gallup or Pew. It seems the rise is not just a blip in one poll but consistent across the organizations measuring presidential approval.

The press has noticed and seems to be crediting an improving economy. USA Today, for example, writes, “Good economic news appears to be fueling Obama’s improved ratings in a string of recent polls.”

Taking the state backward. Again.

Every year, there are around 3,000 kids in Michigan who become eligible for adoption from foster care.

The Michigan GOP would rather these kids stay in foster care than be adopted by loving gay or lesbian parents. In addition to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act Amy has been covering so well, the Michigan House yesterday passed a law giving adoption agencies permission to discriminate against gay or lesbian families in adoption (I’m sorry, allow adoption agencies to “object on moral or religious grounds”). This is even though they receive taxpayer dollars, and even if such an adoption would be in the best interest of the child. …

Your vote and work could make the difference I suspect Chris is doing his GOTV work this morning, so I thought I would throw up a quick update. In case you missed it, three polls came out yesterday showing the governor’s race neck and neck: Mitchell: Snyder 47 Schauer 47 PPP: Snyder 46 Schauer 45 Clarity: Snyder 45 Schauer 45 […]

Is Schauer tied with Snyder? Down by 5? Somewhere in between? This may be old hat for some of you, but people keep asking me what’s going on with the polling in the Governor’s race and I thought I would put together a little primer. For reference, just in the last week, NYT/CBS has had Schauer up by 1 point, […]

The Michigan legislature has had a lot of bad ideas about our environment. Here’s who voted for them This hasn’t been a great couple of years for environmental protection in Michigan. To help us all keep track, and hold the legislature accountable, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters released its legislative scorecard last week, rating the Michigan House and Senate […]

Reaching them is important, but not necessarily easy There are two things I want to do in today’s post. First, point you all to the Pew Research Center’s political polarization report, and their political typology, released last month, in case you haven’t seen these yet. Both are full of great data. Second, I wanted to pull out some of the […]