Republicans even suck at being assholes First is was a Republican operative posing as a CNN reporter. Then it was a Snyder intern attempting to infiltrate a Schauer campaign GOTV office. Now we have failed infiltration attempt #3 of Democrat Mark Schauer’s gubernatorial campaign by the reelection campaign of Gov. Rick Snyder. For the third time this year, Democratic gubernatorial […]

Earlier this month, the Democratic Governors Association debuted this ad targeting Rick Snyder record, weaponizing the governor’s favorite adjective for his nerdiness: The basic message is Snyder is only tough on the middle class. And with a record that punished workers, retirees and families with none of the promised renewal for the state, it’s a message that rings true. Since […]

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 […]

When Netroots Nation, the nation’s largest progressive activist conference, hits Detroit this week, most Team Eclectablog will be there. Here are some of the things we’ll be involved in. First of all, I have the distinct honor and privilege of being the opening speaker at the Thursday evening Opening Keynote, welcoming Netroots Nation attendees to our fine state and our […]

As regular readers of Eclectablog know, the Netroots Nation conference starts on Thursday morning (with some events happening Wednesday night.) Tomorrow I’ll post about the various activities that Team Eclectablog is involved in but I wanted to be sure that all of my progressive pals in Michigan are aware that there’s still time to avail yourself of the discount being […]

Republicans will keep trafficking in their “zombie lies” about Obamacare. But all the evidence shows that even they don’t believe them anymore. To pretend the Affordable Care Act isn’t working now requires rapid revisions of what constitutes failure along with hopes that premiums will rise dramatically this year.  There’s no evidence that rates will go up more than they have […]

In 2011 Terri Lynn Land bought an apartment complex from “Land & Co.” for a bit under a million bucks. This was a small investment to allow her to claim to be a small business owner and not part of Land & Co. itself, the “family business” she repeatedly touts in her campaign speeches and ads to prove her business […]

Democratic legislators demand hearings on women’s health rider repeal bills, while Republican Gov. Rick Snyder aligns with employer who sued over contraception coverage. The distinctions between Michigan’s Democratic and Republican legislators are clearer every day, leaving no question about which party stands with women. State Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer and State Representative Sarah Roberts have delivered letters to 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 […]

  The Republican Party’s first convention took place “under the oaks” in Jackson, Michigan on July 6th, 1854. A crowd of three thousand felt-hatted Free Soilers, top-hatted ex-Whigs and hatless abolitionists* gathered in the summer’s wet heat for a day to organize in protest of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had shattered the fantasy that America could survive a half-slave and […]

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 […]