The race to replace CNN guest star Mike Rogers in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District has four Democrats running. One of them, Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing, picked up some key endorsements today from Michigan women leaders. Here’s the list and it’s an impressive one: State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer Former State Representative Joan Bauer MSU Trustee Dianne Byrum Ingham […]

How can we lose to these idiots? After the Michigan Republican Party was busted earlier this month for using “super secret spy glasses” to surreptitiously videotape Democratic candidates, the story has gotten legs. Yesterday, Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog posted additional exclusive video taken from the memory card found at a Democratic event at a union hall after Republican […]

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 […]

In February of 2012, I interviewed Lon Johnson who was running to be the Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP). During that interview, Johnson talked about the importance of Democrats competing in every single race across the state. “I think we need to have more people fighting for every seat,” he said. “We give no quarter. We make the […]

All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog In August of last year, I sat down with Pam Byrnes, the sole Democratic candidate for Michigan’s hotly contested 7th Congressional District. In 2008, Democrat Mark Schauer defeated incumbent Republican Tim Walberg but, in 2010, Walberg won the seat back. Walberg, a former pastor and bible salesman is one of the […]

Public Policy Polling’s latest Michigan poll has very good news for Democrats. Let’s start out with the very best news: after trailing in all previous polling, Mark Schauer is now in a 40-40 dead heat with incumbent Republican Governor Rick Snyder. What’s more, Snyder’s numbers are down four points from December and he has a negative job approval of 54% […]

Michigan’s 11th Congressional District is one of the most highly gerrymandered districts in the state. I mean, geez, just look at this travesty: Clearly, when Republicans redrew that district, they had no interest in the Democrats (read: black people) of Pontiac voting in their election. The newly redrawn district contains much of the former territory and is a hotbed of […]

Bills would undo the law that requires women to buy extra insurance for miscarriages and abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. See update below. In a decisive move, Democratic State Representative Sarah Roberts and State Senator Gretchen Whitmer introduced bills on Monday that would repeal a controversial law that forces women to buy additional health insurance coverage for […]

Back in 2010, Rick Snyder was a relative unknown in Michigan at this point in the midterm election cycle. In fact, he didn’t crack 50% on name recognition until the after the primary election in August. In contrast, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is known by over 60% of the electorate according to recent polling by Mitchell Research (pdf). Not […]

I’ve received word that a substitute bill to expand the EAA in Michigan is being rushed through the state Senate with a vote to come as early as today. The bill is, according to my sources, being championed by Republican Senator Bruce Caswell with the goal of getting it passed quickly before the Senate goes on it summer break in […]

The recent kerfuffle in the Michigan House of Representatives with three state Republican legislators posing with women’s fashion mags to show they “understand women” is generating the requisite amount of outcry and outrage from around the state. Having them openly mocking women in an election year is a display of such chutzpah that even Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger was […]