Talking Michigan Politics

Matt McLogan, vice president of university relations at GVSU, joins Grand Rapids Press political editor Jeff Cranson on this week's Talking Michigan Politics. recorded at One Trick Pony in downtown Grand Rapids. Thanks to proprietor Dan Verhil.

The topics include:

1. The race for governor. A poll out Tuesday (PDF) from Lansing-based EPIC MRA confirms that the Democratic field has a ways to go in capturing interest, let alone excitement.

Some 72 percent of those polled said they don't recognize the name of Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, and 53 percent don't recognize House Speaker Andy Dillon who was preparing a run for months before sending more obvious signs upon Lt. Gov. John Cherry's departure from the race.

In the poll, Dillon leads Dems with 22 percent, followed by Bernero with 15 percent and the candidate in the field the longest time, state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith of suburban Ann Arbor, with 11 percent.

On the GOP side, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland continues to lead with 27 percent; while Attorney General Mike Cox netted 21 percent and Ann Arbor venture capitalist Rick Snyder scored 15 percent, a drop from his numbers in other recent polls. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, the only candidate besides Cox to have run a statewide race, notched 13 percent. After hearing background on the candidate, Hoekstra remained at the top with 26 percent, while Snyder moved up considerably, tying Cox at 21 percent. Bouchard gained two points.

2. Congressional races. Some Michigan seats are up for grabs, including those held by Democrats Mark Schauer and Gary Peters, who will most assuredly be targets of those gathering for Tea Party Express stops this weekend. Most intriguing is the battle to oust Schauer, who left the state Senate in 2008 and rode President Obama's coattails to victory in the mostly rural, GOP-leaning, southern-Michigan district. Battling to replace him is the evangelical conservative he upset, Tim Walberg, and Brian Rooney, the grandson of famed Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. Brian Rooney is a 7th District transplant, having moved to Dexter in 2009.

3. Texting and driving. With a Senate-approved bill to ban texting while driving and make it a primary offense, all eyes are on the House. Gov. Granholm has indicated she would sign the bill if it makes it to her desk. Jack Lessenberry made a compelling case for the legislation in a recent essay.

Conversation starters:

• Jeff on former alpinist and author Greg Mortenson's visit to West Michigan and his "books not bombs" message.

• Matt on April 15 deadline to file state and federal income taxes. Despite efforts to simplify the form, it is more complicated than ever.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Jeff and Ed discuss:

1. Gov's race. New polls show U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra maintaining a lead on the Republican side, with Mike Cox slipping and Mike Bouchard now at 5 percent. On the other side, as Politics Daily put it, "some other candidate" leads the three Democrats in the Rasmussen Reports poll March 24.

"It's pathetic we don't have a candidate," Robert Kolt, a Democratic-leaning public relations consultant, told the Detroit News. "We have nobody with any marquee name value."

But Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who drew 8 percent to House Speaker Andy Dillon's 12, says he, too, is a nerd. Another Dem, state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith notched 10 percent.

Still, Dems continue not to inspire, meaning, Jeff posits, that independents will vote in the GOP primary, which would be a good thing for Rick Snyder.

2. Anonymous commenting online The issue was brought to the forefront by a recent situation at cleveland.com.

3. Poll: Dems bear more blame for threats A new poll finds the public casts blame on both sides for threats of violence toward members of Congress following the health care bill vote, though slightly more blame "political maneuvers" by Democratic lawmakers:

• 49 percent said controversial political maneuvers by Democratic leaders to win passage of the measure was the major reason for the angry fallout.

• 25 percent said this was a minor reason.

• 22 percent said these were not a factor at all.

• 46 percent pointed the finger at harsh criticism of the health care measure from conservative commentators on radio and television.

• 26 percent considered this a minor reason.

• 23 percent said it was not a cause.

• 43 percent said harsh criticism of the measure from Republican leaders was a major cause.

• 29 percent said it was a minor cause and 23 percent said it was not a reason at all.

Independents spread the blame around more evenly:

• 50 percent citing the maneuvers of Democratic leaders

• 44 percent the criticism from conservative commentators

• 40 percent the rhetoric of Republican leaders.

Conversation starters:

• Jeff on a New York Magazine story that suggested women should run Wall Street.

• Ed's conversation starter is the Grand Rapids Press winning a lawsuit to force the Coopersville school district to disclose how much they paid to victims in a 2007 JV baseball hazing case.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder discuss:

1. Health Care. Is the health care vote really going to be the big issue in November, or is it still about jobs? Some believe the vote will solidify an alliance between social and fiscal conservatives in the GOP base.

As former George W. Bush speech writer David Frum, who's rapidly falling out of favor with his party, asks: Do Republicans write a one-sentence bill declaring that the whole thing is repealed? Will they vote to reopen the "doughnut" hole for prescription drugs for seniors? To allow health insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions? To kick millions of people off Medicaid? Frum makes the argument that only talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh benefit from the vitriol:

"If Republicans succeed -- if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office -- Rush's listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less and hear fewer ads for Sleep Number beds."

But top Republicans like Arizona Sen. John McCain say the vote will pay big dividends for his party.

"We're going to have a very spirited campaign coming up between now and November," McCain told ABC's Good Morning America.

Meanwhile Tea Party will hold three rallies in U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak's northern Michigan district to target him. The Tea Party Express III: Just Vote Them Out tour has added a new member of Congress who will be added to the group's target list. "We're trading votes with Bart Stupak. He sold out the American people and voted for that awful health care bill, so now we're going to repay the favor and vote him out of office," said Joe Wierzbicki, Coordinator of the Tea Party Express and a Michigan native.

2. Governor's race. Democrat Andy Dillon and Republican Pete Hoekstra seemed to agree on more than they disagree at a forum in Detroit last week.

One Lansing Republican insider, said he came away surprised at Hoekstra's performance, calling him a "rock star" and said Dillon was better than in past appearances, too. Republican Mike Cox is getting national attention for being among state attorneys general filing challenges to the national health care bill. And another official tied to Democrat Virg Bernero has tax issues.

3. Michigan 10.0 -- Resources for sale. Windmills, water, land, conflicts abound, though many are optimistic that those resources hold the seeds of economic recovery.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, topics include the governor's race, education funding (and Saturday's controversial Meat Out), and the 3rd District Congressional race.

Grand Rapids Press politics editor Jeff Cranson chats with Matt McLogan, vice president for community relations at Grand Valley State University, who is pinch-hitting for Ed Golder.

1. Getting negative The race for governor heats up with allegations from Attorney General Mike Cox suggesting that fellow GOP candidate Pete Hoekstra is not the fiscal conservative he claims to be because of votes in favor of the $850 billion bank bailout, raising the debt ceiling, earmarks and his refusal to take the no-tax pledge.

A Hoekstra spokesman responded: "Today's negative attack from the Cox campaign is not a surprise. It is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the string of controversial stories and scandals the Cox campaign has had to deal with in the last week. Unfortunately for the Cox campaign, the people of Michigan are smarter than that."

Also in the news, Republican candidate Rick Snyder continues his call for investigations into the source of robocalls and negative ads. Snyder campaign officials say people connected to the groups involved in the ads were at one time connected to the Cox campaign. The Cox campaign denies any involvement.

Robocalls have also been used on the Democratic side with some ringing phones in Grand Rapids last week attacking the labor union credentials of Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero.

2. Paying for education Gov. Jennifer Granholm, trying to focus on something besides not eating meat, makes her case Wednesday in conference calls with reporters and school officials for more funding for K-12 education. The calls come just days after the Obama Administration released a plan that, as the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "bends the No Child Left Behind learning curve."

Granholm's calls come at the same time higher education officials are worried that action in the Senate Appropriations Committee will lead to tuition hikes.

Also today, Senate Republicans failed to muster the votes for the super majority necessary to prevent 3 percent raises for state employees from going into place later this year.

3. The Grand Rapids area Congressional seat and other local races. A formidable Democrat seems poised to jump into the race where the buzz has so far focused on three GOP candidates: state Rep. Justin Amash, state Sen. Bill Hardiman, Steve Heacock and Bob Overbeek.

Conversation starters:

• Jeff on President Obama's NCAA picks and why he chose Kansas to win it all.

• Matt on whether the House passes a health care reform bill with a straight vote or parliamentary maneuvers.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder tackle:

1. The race for governor. A new poll, released exclusively to the Grand Rapids Press and Booth Newspapers, finds Pete Hoekstra solidly out front on the GOP side with Rick Snyder continuing to surge on the strength of his TV blitz.

Attorney General Mike Cox seems to be waning. On the Democratic side, Andy Dillon holds a narrow lead over Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, though a large number of voters remain undecided.

In other news, robocalls have sparked hostility and investigations by the Secretary of State.

Could the state pass campaign finance laws to require disclosure of the money behind robocalls?

2. Teacher's fault? Do teachers' unions deserve the blame for Michigan's failure to get Race to the Top funds for education from the federal government? A Detroit News editorial makes the case.

An MEA leader told MIRS news the union would have "sold its soul" had it signed off on the Race to the Top legislation (RTTT) without reviewing the entire document. But Gov. Granholm and others say the teachers union's obstruction cost the state the funds. Today, Dillon and Republican state Sen. Wayne Kuipers are together supporting Grand Rapids schools Supt. Bernard Taylor at his state of the schools address.

3. Tea Partiers redux. A Wall Street Journal editorial and none other than Karl Rove posit today that the Tea Party phenomenon will be bad for the GOP.

This comes as Newsweek hit the stands this week with a story about Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham running afoul of his party by compromising with the administration.

Conversation starters:

• Ed on the summer slide. Increasingly, educators are making the case for alternative school calendars and more and longer days in the classroom.

• Jeff on U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts questioning whether he and the associate justices should even attend the State of the Union address in the future after being called out by President Obama on their landmark campaign finance ruling.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, recorded at Rocky's in Grand Rapids, Jeff and Ed discuss:

1. The race for governor. The Democratic field is growing. Former Genesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee filed to explore a run and long-exploring candidate Andy Dillon, state House speaker, made his run official Monday. Do Kildee and Lansing Mayor Verg Bernero split the labor base and help Dillon? How does Dillon's pro-life status factor in the primary?

On the GOP side, the campaign of Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder has filed two complaints with the Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and Attorney General Mike Cox alleging that groups behind a series of attack ads are violating Michigan’s campaign finance law. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra was noted in the Washington Post's Fix column today in an analysis that Texas voters rejection of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the gubernatorial race revealed a more vitriolic anti-Washington mood.

2. Grand Rapids Congressional race. Before a crowd of about 200 people, Steve Heacock formally announced his Republican candidacy for the seat being vacated by veteran U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers. Already in the race are first-term state Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, and term-limited state Sen. Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood.

Do Heacock and Hardiman carve up more moderate elements of the party while Amash, an ardent small-government proponent, appeals to the fiscal conservatives?

3. Employee givebacks. The state Senate failed Wednesday to muster the votes to block 3-percent pay raises for state employees. The same day the anti-teachers union Education Action Group criticized Grand Rapids school officials for agreeing to hear from Michigan State University economist Charles Ballard, who conducted a study in the fall that concluded Michigan state employees are not overpaid.

Conversation starters:

• Ed on National Talk in the Third Person Day. Think Bob Dole.

• Jeff on an organization that pushes for alternatives to incarceration held out Michigan, which has seen lower prison populations and lower violent crime, as one of four models in the country.

Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth says judges are very judicious in sending felons to prison, only two in 10, compared to national average of four of 10. It comes as the state decides whether to reinstate good time for prisons to lower prison population and save millions.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder discuss the race for the Grand Rapids-based Congressional seat.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder are joined by Grand Valley State University Vice President Matthew McLogan to discuss:

1. How national political developments will affect Michigan and Grand Rapids-area races. Sen. Carl Levin said this week he thinks third-party candidates, like those in the Tea Party movement, could help the Democrats in general elections in some states. Would such a movement be akin to Ross Perot in 1992? Is Obama's jobs chart scoring any points? Is the moderate 3rd Congressional district ready to make a hard right with a candidate like Justin Amash?

Former state Sen. Ken Sikkema, long interested in the seat, announced Wednesday that he would not seek it. How will that race affect down-ticket races in the district, which includes all but a few precincts in Kent County? Kent County Commission races are already taking shape.

2. The race to be governor of Michigan. In the revolving door that defines the Democratic side, former state Treasurer Bob Bowman was in for a few minutes.

After announcing that he would explore a run last week, he took himself out of the running Monday. Denise Ilitch, daughter of Tigers/Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, was also considering a run but bowed out. Alma Wheeler Smith and Virg Bernero remain the only declared Democratic candidates, but House Speaker Andy Dillon seems certain to make a formal announcement soon. Republicans, meanwhile, risk forming a circular firing squad.

3. Taxes? School officials are taking on the business leaders on Gov. Granholm's proposal to lower the state sales tax from 6 to 5.5 percent and extend it to services. The plan is in line with something proposed by the Business Leaders For Michigan, though their plan is contingent a series of spending cuts. On a related note, will any tax hikes pass on the May 4 ballot?

Conversation starters:

• Ed on something that is both erudite yet accessible, Keynesian yet Friedmanesque, complex but simple and mostly vital to the interests of every man, woman and child in greater Grand Rapids.

• Jeff on global weirding.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Grand Rapids Press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder discuss U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers' retirement and the GOP governor's race turning ugly.

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Grand Rapids Press politics editor Jeff Cranson and editorial page editor Ed Golder discuss:

1. Fund-raising in the governor's race. Some surprising figures on the GOP side showed Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard near $900,000 despite low poll numbers; U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, despite campaigning for several months, raised around $475,000 with $170,000 cash on hand.

Attorney General Mike Cox, who leads in the polls even after noise in the fall about whether he scuttled an investigation into activities involving former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, raised $1.8 million and had $1.47 million in cash on hand.

Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, who is yet to crack double digits in the polls, raised $3.2 million, with $2.6 million in loans to himself.

The discussion: Once Snyder goes on TV, including an ad on the Super Bowl Sunday, does he gain quickly? Will his personal spending affect voters' views? Will Hoekstra have trouble claiming viability to donors now?

2. Gov. Granholm's early-out proposal for state workers is ruffling feathers. The Michigan Education Association tweeted members today tweeted its members to call Granholm's office to "tell her wht U think abt her attack on yr retirement."

Is it fair to ask state workers who still have defined pensions to kick in more while so many private employees have had their pensions frozen or eliminated?

3. Grand Rapids will soon join other area cities putting tax proposals on the ballot. Can people be persuaded if they are told the extra funds will bring back police and fire? Would focusing on streets and parks have more appeal?

Conversation starters:

-- Ed on the Lancet medical journal's retraction of a story from 12 years ago that suggested a link between some childhood vaccinations and autism.

-- Jeff on how skepticism is often confused as cynicism. A skeptic asks questions and tries to discern a higher truth. A cynic suffers no idealism and believes the masses prefer to be manipulated to achieve an agenda. Was J.P. Morgan skeptical or cynical when he proffered: "There are two reasons people do things. The good reason and the real reason."