“I’m a participant in life.”

Fred Upton has been in Congress since 1987 representing the parts of southwestern Michigan. During that time, the Whirlpool heir has distinguished himself as a far-right conservative Republican on nearly every issue you could name.

Mike O’Brien, a former Marine and Missouri farmer, is challenging Fred Upton in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. The gridlock imposed on Congress by Republicans unable and unwilling to compromise to affect change combined with Upton’s anti-environment, anti-women, anti-senior votes over the past several years, O’Brien felt there was both a need for change and a real possibility of victory. According to recent polling done by his campaign, he’s absolutely right.

My interview with Mike O’Brien after the jump.

Another superb candidate for the State Supreme Court in Michigan

Connie Marie Kelley is currently a judge in the Wayne County Circuit Court. She was endorsed and nominated by the Michigan Democratic Party for the Michigan Supreme Court along with Bridget Mary McCormack (interview HERE) and Shelia Johnson (interview HERE.)

Like the other two MDP-endorsed candidates for the state’s highest court, Judge Kelley comes from a background that makes her unique suited and qualified to be a state Supreme Court justice. She has spent her career advocating for clients as an attorney and making the justice system more accessible for those who use it as a judge. She has represented a wide variety of clients including victims of domestic violence, those who have experienced discrimination, and workers who have been treated unfairly by their employers. In her personal life, she has seen the impact that drug abuse can have on families and has used that experience to help young people find other paths, serving as a mentor and teacher to young people from urban areas.

The full interview is after the jump.

Turning Michigan blue — shore to shore

The 79th State House District covers the area on the Lake Michigan coast of Michigan that includes Benton Harbor. It is currently represented by Al Pscholka, a former aide to Congressman Fred Upton, very good friend of Whirlpool and, most importantly, the original sponsor of the legislation that became Public Act 4, Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law.

Jim Hahn is a progressive Democrats who is running against Al Pscholka and, though Berrien County is a fairly Republican area, he believes he can win.

I spoke to Jim over the weekend about his campaign. My interview after the jump.

Judge Shelia Johnson serves in the 46th District Court that covers the affluent southeastern Michigan communities of Southfield, Lathrup Village, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills, Franklin and Southfield Township is not your ordinary judge. Judge Johnson was born and raised in Michigan and spent time as a child in the segregated South. Through these life experiences, she as seen how justice is administered from several unique vantage points. She has also seen how justice is often denied and has spent her life trying to correct that.

My interview with Judge Johnson after the jump.

A true advocate for those with the greatest need

When I arrived at the campaign office of State Supreme Court candidate Bridget Mary McCormack just south of Dexter, I found her Skyping into a house party meeting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She had just finished making her pitch to a room full of nearly two dozen potential supporters, who could be seen on the screen of her laptop, and was taking questions. When you’re running a statewide campaign for a position most people know little about and often ignore on the ballot, it’s this type of unconventional approach that could make the difference between who wins and loses the race for one of the three open spots on the Court. It’s also completely in line with the type of campaign that McCormack is running.

Click through for my interview with this terrific candidate and to find out more about her out of the ordinary campaign.

Gretchen Driskell embodies what Mark Ouimet pretends to be

As Democrats in Michigan attempt to retake control over the House of Representatives, one of the most closely-watched races is in the 52nd District, the area west of Ann Arbor. Long a Democratic stronghold, it went to Republican Mark Ouimet in the 2010 Republican wave. The 2010 races was pure gutter politics on the part of the Republicans who ran no fewer than five increasingly offensive and nearly slanderous robocalls against Democrat Christine Green.

This year, another Democratic woman will face the Republican smear effort in the 52nd — Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell. Driskell is less a politician than she is a true public servant. As Saline’s first woman mayor and longest-serving mayor, she’s been on the front lines of making her community the kind of place where people want to be to raise kids, start a business and enjoy the city’s charm. She’s served the community for over 20 years spending six years on the city council and another 14 as mayor.

I sat down for an with Driskell this week to discuss her candidacy. Please click through for the interview.

Democracy for America, the progressive political action committee founded by Vermont Governor Howard Dean and now chaired by his brother Jim, is having a busy week. Yesterday, in conjunction with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), delivered petitions containing the signatures of 115,000 Michiganders outraged at the actions of Jase Bolger. Recall that Bolger temporarily banned Democrats Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum from speaking on the House floor as punishment for making Bolger angry.

Tomorrow, they will deliver upwards of a quarter million signatures to Republican Mitt Romney’s Boston headquarters, asking him to release his tax returns for the voters in America to see, an act of disclosure he seems determined not to make.

I spoke with Jim Dean by phone this morning at the bright and early time of 6:30 a.m. (we’re both early risers) about these events and lots more.

Enjoy (after the jump.)

Drunk with power, House Republicans continue to silence their opposition

Yesterday the Michigan Legislature met for one day before reconvening again on August 15th. This occasion brought several protests to the Capitol, mainly from groups supporting women’s rights and disgusted with the way female legislators are being treated by their Republican colleagues.

After the jump, details about the protests and interviews with Matt Wall from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democratic Representative Barb Byrum talking about the delivery of 115,000 petition signatures to House Speaker Jase Bolger demanding an apology for his treatment of Rep. Byrum and her colleague Rep. Lisa Brown as well as Rep. Byrum’s account of being prevented from speaking on the floor of the House again yesterday.

March for Democracy and Freedom in Michigan

UPDATE: This march has been cancelled. See my update HERE.

For five days later this month, July 23-27, the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network will march from Detroit to Lansing along Grand River Avenue, to protest the egregious actions of Republicans in Michigan. From overreaching voter suppression laws to the Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — activists from around the state are outraged by Republican efforts to disenfranchise Michigan voters.

An organizing meeting will take place this Saturday, July 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit (6100 14th Street, Detroit.)

I spoke with Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan Chapter of NAN this afternoon. He told me that this march is modeled after the Selma to Montgomery march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.

Abolishing corporate personhood and getting money out of elections is a principle, not an “issue”

The national organization/movement Move to Amend is working to amend the U.S. constitution to abolish corporate personhood that gives corporations constitutionally-protected civil liberties and to get money out of elections by ensuring that money is no longer viewed as constitutionally-protected speech. David Cobb is one of the chief spokespersons for the Move to Amend effort and currently on a national speaking tour that stops in Michigan this week.

Details about the Michigan leg of David Cobb’s trip (including information on his presentation THIS FRIDAY IN ANN ARBOR) and my interview with him after the jump.

“If saying ‘vagina’ is controversial, then the men that believe that need to look at what they feel about vaginas.”

Tomorrow, starting at 5:00 p.m. Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues brings this wildly successful play to the steps of the state Capitol Building. With help from state legislators, activists and progressive leaders around the state of Michigan, they will perform The Vagina Monologues in front of the building where Republicans have basically banned the word from being uttered.

Ensler is the founder of the group V-Day, dedicated to ending violence against women and girls all over the world.

The reading of The Vagina Monologues at the state Capitol was the brainchild of Carla Milarch, the associate artistic director at the Performance Network in Ann Arbor. You can find out more information about the “Vaginas Take Back the Capitol” event and RSVP on their Facebook page HERE. Also, be sure to share your ideas for signs to be carried at the event HERE and by tweeting using the hashtag #MIvaginasigns.

With the story of Republicans publicly censuring and banning their female colleagues from speaking on the floor of the state House because they exercised their free speech rights going national, Ensler is getting interview requests from all over. In fact, this has actually become an international story and she has been interviewed about it by the BBC in England.

I spoke with Ensler by phone this afternoon about the “Vaginas Take Back the Capitol” event and the reading of The Vagina Monologues on the Capitol steps.