This weekend, Michigan Republicans dutifully nominated U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ choice for Secretary of State, Mary Treder Lang. The billionaire DeVos family has already padded Lang’s campaign account with more than $40,000 so far. Republican pundit Bill Ballenger, best known for declaring the Flint water crisis to be “overblown,”* gave us some insight into another reason for Lang’s nomination […]

The headline of Tuesday’s election is that pissed-off women are voting Democratic. That’s what propelled Gretchen Whitmer to win a straight-up majority in a three-way race for governor and all 83 counties. That’s why women won most of the key congressional races in the state — particularly in those Democrats need to flip in November, the 7th, 8th and 11th. […]

Most people know Tony Trupiano from his radio shows, podcast, posts here or as a Democratic activist who could always be counted on to help a candidate on the campaign trail or emcee an event. Tony was all those things. But most of all, he was just a really good man and a great friend. The world is poorer without him. He […]

“So much for running a government like a business. You can keep the $100 your tax cut will give me, if you take responsibility for your conduct and reimburse me what your potholes have cost me.” That’s the message Ann Arbor attorney John Minnock had for Gov. Rick Snyder this week, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. He wasn’t […]

I became a journalist almost 17 years ago because I wanted to dig for the truth and tell important stories, especially in politics. In the decade-plus I’ve spent in Lansing, I’ve watched most of my Capitol press corps colleagues retire, leave for better-paying jobs or get laid off. There are so many issues to cover and stories to tell — […]

Michigan politicos are once again atwitter about Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and other Democrats allegedly trying to recruit an alternative to Gretchen Whitmer for governor. That’s from a Bridge story this week following up on a Detroit News column in November. And I wrote a column for Dome Magazine back in October, going through the months-long history of the effort […]

Hi, ladies*, I’m here to tell you that it’s OK to step away from the keyboard for a few days. It’s cool not to check Twitter and especially Facebook, where you’re supposed to be linked with your actual friends. Because it is a cesspool right now over the sexual harassment and abuse scandals in Washington, especially with two Democrats (U.S. […]

 If you’re looking for a window into 2018 in Michigan, the most important race took place last night in the western Upper Peninsula. On first blush, it looks like a pretty routine result in the special election for the 109th state House District: Democrat Sara Cambensy held a seat that’s been blue for more than a half-century. The district has a […]

Remember when U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos scrapped the Obama administration’s guidelines on campus sexual assault because they were “confusing“? Remember how some Very Serious People, even liberals, praised this as a good-faith effort? (Some folks seem to believe that there’s an epidemic of really good guys being falsely accused of rape and this is the worst thing in the […]

After Donald Trump’s surprise victory last year, it became almost gospel with beltway pundits that liberals were living in a bubble. That’s been followed by a never-ending stream of profiles of Trump supporters (aka Real Americans) who — wouldn’t ya know it? — vowed to stick with him no matter what. Now given the fact that Trump’s win shocked most […]

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.” — President Donald Trump […]