Sue Dolato running to replace Parker on County Commission

I got an email from Sue Dolato announcing her run for county commission. Sue's running for the 5th District which is opening up from Parker not running for re-election. The district covers all of Conway, Cohoctah, and Howell City, and precinct one in Howell Township. It is one of the more potentially competitive districts in the county and can not be taken for granted. This was at one time my district.

I don't know if someone else is running, but Sue has my support. I've known Sue for years from her time as a legislative aide and other campaigns. I've worked with her in different capacities. She knows what she's doing, is nobody's yesman, and would bring an independent streak to the board. At the same time, Sue will work well with the current members on the board.

Establishment RINO candidate Charlie Crist bolts GOP - NRSC with egg on their face

I didn't call Charlie Crist a RINO until today. He sure is one now. I save that term for those who deserve it.
From Redstate

One year ago today, NRSC backed Arlen Specter bolted from the GOP. Today, the media is reporting NRSC backed Charlie Crist is also bolting the GOP.
Seeing a trend here, aren’t we?
Charlie Crist will not only run as an independent in Florida, but he has also reserved all of his air time in Florida through November, or as much as he can.
Why?
Because he knows the Club for Growth is going to do what they did to Specter — fund an effort to have Crist donors ask for their money back. Well, because Crist has spent it all on television advertising holds that he may or may not later use, he can say he has none to give back.
Classy, Charlie.

It's time for the NRSC people to get out of the beltway, away from the cocktail parties,  and take a good hard look at how things work in the real world away from the Capitol reporters bureau, Bethesda, DC, Arlington, and Alexandria.

Two establishment supported candidates are now gone. Arlen Specter left the GOP and went to the democrats after Pennsylvanians rejected him. Joe Stesak is running against him in the democrat primary. I hope he wins the primary and teaches that bum a lesson. If not, oh well. Screw the NRSC, back individual Candidates only

The NRSC is at it again. They officially broke their longtime policy of getting involved in open primaries when they endorsed Charlie Crist, Florida's governor in the open Senate race which is held by Mel Martinez. Marco Rubio, the Florida Speaker of the house, is another candidate.---------------------
I think the DC establishment STILL has not learned their lesson, and will have to be defeated over and over until they get it. They know jack and squat, and jack left the building. They didn't get it with Laffey. They didn't get it with Specter. They don't get it here either. They lost something like 14 seats in 4 years and are doing the same crap they've done before.

If McConnell and Cornyn and the NRSC are backing Crist, then I'm leaning towards Rubio strictly by default. I don't know that much about him, outside of the Weekly standard piece and his website, but what I've heard sounds more good than bad. While I'd probably vote for Rubio over Crist based on fiscal issues, I wouldn't support the NRSC backing either candidate.

The NRSC endorsements bring up another can of worms. When do they endorse and when do they back off? There a major primary battle in Missouri between DC's establishment guy Roy Blunt and Missouri's statewide elected official Sarah Steelman. That's also an open seat. Steelman is attacking Blunt's ties to DC and K-street and fiscal responsibility. That's a valid attack after the job DC's done on fiscal issues the past eight years. Is the NRSC getting involved in one and not the other? That's a can of worms that should not have been open.

And it could have been prevented by the NRSC doing its job and winning general elections. This mismanagement and poor decisionmaking is why you will not see me give one dime to the NRSC. Only individual candidates deserve donations.

I followed that up later the October with Washington Establishment gets Right Hook.

I've said for almost four years that the Republican Party is at a crossroads, mainly due to fiscal issues. It can follow the lead of the Republican Study Committee, Mike Pence, Jim DeMint, and Jeb Hensarling in its opposition to deficit spending, or it can follow the lead of Ted Stevens, George W Bush, and Charlie Crist in their support for big spending policies. The choice made here, will determine whether the GOP can take the house back in 2010, and the senate back in 2012 or 2014. It will also determine if Obama will be a one-termer. The bailout in 2008 turned the election from a close race to an ass kicking. The fiscal policies in 2006 caused an ass kicking. Democrat-lite policies from the GOP do not work. Why vote for democrat-lite when the real thing is always available.

While I understand that what works in one community does not always work in another, basic principles should always apply, and that they should be less government and more freedom.

Many in the GOP are starting to get that message again with Obama's radical leftism, Mike Pence having a more visible role, Ted Stevens being defeated, and George W Bush being gone. Starting being the operative word. There's still a lot of trust that needs to be earned, and nobody trusts the government right now. That's why we have the tea parties. That's why the calls are flooding the offices. That's why people are involved in politics who have not been involved.
Speaking of fiscal conservatism and tea parties, they aren't GOP. They are conservative. There's a difference, and people are getting right hooked by it. Florida Governor and senate candidate Charlie Crist is a big example. He was at the Mackinac Conference and probably wants to run for president someday. I was real tempted to get a big banner up there that said "Marco Rubio for Senate." Marco Rubio is Charlie Crist's opponent in the primary. Rubio has one of my favorite quotes. “If you are unhappy with the Republican establishment, then let’s get a new establishment.” Right now, we're in the process there in Washington. The DC insiders don't support Rubio, but that's changing. Rubio called out Crist and rightly so in the magazine Human Events. 
-------------------------------
  In 2005, the NRSC ran negative ads against Steve Laffey who ran against RINO Lincoln Chafee. Chafee got the establishment GOP support and won the primary. He still lost in the general in 2006. The NRSC spent money meant to support republicans, not fight them.

In 2009, the NRSC endorsed big spending Arlen Specter for re-election. Specter is now a democrat because the grassroots republicans had enough of him. Pat Toomey for senate. Toomey is an electable (won three times in a district that went for Gore and Kerry) conservative who can win a tough state like Pennsylvania.

Also this year, the NRSC said they would stay out of the Florida open primary, changed their mind, and supported Charlie Crist. My response? Rubio for senate.

The NRCC isn't much better. In Arizona, they flodded a district with money in an open primary for a candidate that lost. Wasted money.

Those are reasons why I don't give money to the establishment committees. If you plan on donating, the best way to go is to individual candidates, like Rubio, Toomey, Pence, DeMint, etc. Cut out the middleman.

That leads to the Politico article today which was very interesting. Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership. I wouldn't say, "turned" on GOP leadership. Most of the tea partiers I know and talked to never liked the GOP leadership anyway. This is grass roots. These aren't followers, but they chose their own paths. If you give them a big spending republican, they will get opposed just like an Obama democrat.

The way to combat this is to drain the NRSC and back individual candidates for senate. Marco Rubio for senate. Pat Toomey for senate. 

It's up to us as political watchdogs to look at who is running in the different races, research the candidates, be patient and watch how things go, and then make an intelligent decisions on which candidates deserve our support. People like more of the same, Charlie Crist, aren't worth it. Floridians figured that out, and Crist turned tail and left the party. Screw him.

The best revenge here is for Crist to finish third, behind Kendrick Meek and Marco Rubio

MI-01 - Matt Gillard is in for the dems

Another announcement - from the Cheboygan News

Alpena, Mich. —

Alpena native and former Democratic State Representative Matt Gillard, announced today his candidacy for the First Congressional District to replace U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Menominee).

Gillard represents of the base dem areas in the 1st in Alpena. This could hurt both McDowell by cutting into Cheboygan/Presque Isle, and Sheltrown by cutting into Alcona, Mio, and Grayling. This could benefit Saltonstall if she's the only pro-abortion candidate, and that bloc of votes (smaller in the 1st district, but still there) sticks together.

I'd still like to see a couple more democrat yoopers jump in against McDowell. Right now, I think he's the man to beat, and would also be the toughest candidate in the general.

As far as Republican matchups, I think he's a better matchup for the GOP than Sheltrown and especially McDowell.

Don Parker not running for re-election as county commissioner

There's a new opening on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners. Don Parker is not running for re-election

Don Parker has announced he will not be running for re-election to the Livingston County Board of Commissioners.
Parker currently serves as vice chairman of the nine-member board. His district covers the city of Howell, a portion of Howell Township and all of Cohoctah and Conway townships.
The 34-year-old Howell resident said he had an “internal feeling” that this was the right time to step aside.
“The time has come to step aside and make room for someone else,” he said.
Parker served on the Howell City Council in 2002 when he was appointed to the county board. He served several months and was then elected to two-year terms in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

I thought Parker did a good job on the county board and wish him well in the future.

This district covers all of Conway and Cohoctah townships, precinct 1 in Howell Township, and all of the City of Howell. Parker's had some tough races in the past in the primary, but has escaped general election battles.

All of the commissioner seats are currently held by Republicans. The last democrat to hold a seat was Jake Donohue down in a district that covered Putnam and Unadilla townships.

• District 1 - All of Brighton Twp outside precinct 5, Hartland Twp 5 - Maggie Jones
• District 2 - All of Osceola Twp and Deerfield Twp, Howell twp 2, Genoa Twp 3,11 - Jim Mantey
• District 3 - All of Tyrone Twp and all of Hartland Twp except 5 - Dave Domas
• District 4 - All of Handy, Iosco, and Unadilla Twp, Marion Twp 1, Howell Twp 3 - Ronald Van Houten
• District 5 - All of Conway, Cohoctah, and Howell City, Howell Twp 1 - Don Parker
• District 6 - All of Putnam Twp, Hamburg 3, Marion 2, 3, 4,Genoa 5, 12. - Steve Williams
• District 7 - All of Brighton City, Genoa 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - Carol Griffith
• District 8 - All of Hamburg except precinct 3 - Dennis Dolan
• District 9 - All of Green Oak and Brighton Twp 5 - Jack LaBelle

While Livingston County is at the top of the ticket about 56% GOP in a bad year and 63% GOP in a good year, not all of the county commissioner districts fit that mold. Some parts are more locally democrat than national democrat, especially in Putnam and Unadilla Townships which have a democrat on their boards.

Parker's district may be competitive depending on candidates. Howell is probably the most socially liberal part of the county. I kid you not. At least when it comes to the political class. The City of Howell was McCain's worst showing in the county in 2008, most of which was due to the precinct with the apartments and the trailer park, along with part of downtown. He ran 10% behind Bush overall in the city. The dems haven't recently run an opponent against Parker, so there's nothing to test on that level.

Parker's district in 08 was 52.85% for McCain and 44.95% for Obama. It wasn't close in 2000 or 2004. It should stay ours, but it can not be taken for granted.

I don't know who's going to run for this spot, although I have an idea who might. Stay tuned.

MI-01 - Dan Benishek for Congress

Right now I'm at the closest point I've ever come to throwing a straight ticket. I've never done that, and I won't do so. I check every name that's running before voting. However, after the well deserved ass kickings given in 2006 and 2008 to the GOP for their drift from fiscal conservatism and acting like democrats, the voters decided on the real thing instead of dem-lite.

The results are a disaster, including the health care takeover by the democrats and their buddies in the insurance companies like Blue Cross (FYI - The likely opponent for Mike Rogers, Kande what's his name, is a Blue Cross Guy, and  Dem State Senator Gretchen Whitmer is a Blue Cross heir). A month ago,  I posted a long-term blueprint for getting rid of Obamacare. It starts with getting people like Pelosi out of the speaker's chair. That means we need to win the majority. It starts with getting the right candidate to be the nomination here in the 1st district.

I hate using the term "electable candidate".The reason is that usually whoever the pundits say is the electable candidate isn't. See McCain in 2008. See John Kerry in 2004. (Dean might have won)  See Gore in 2000 (Bradley would have won) who lost multiple times with the re-re-re-re-re counts. The pundits and I have disagreements about who is the electable candidate. I think all of the candidates in the 1st are electable depending on their matchups. That's what it comes down to, just like football, mixed martial arts, and everything else.

The first district is open. It's a difficult swing seat for all parties involved and is one of the most unique districts in the country. It takes the right candidate to win here. I was hoping former State Rep Tom Casperson would run. He said he was sticking with the state senate candidacy instead. With Casperson out, I'm making my endorsement. Dan Benishek. He has the best chance to win with the possible matchups in this district.

Outside of my strong bias against carpetbagging to another district, I don't have anything against Jason Allen. In Allen's defense, about half of his senate seat was in the 1st. Many on the right-roots have their issues, but I'm concentrating on another issue here. Geography. The 1st district is about small town politics. There are no cities over 20,000 people. Allen's county of Grand Traverse is larger than any county in the district outside of  Bay County, and much of Bay County is in the 5th District. Traverse City is larger than 14 counties in this district. He's moved to Alanson, in Emmet County, which is in his state senate district.

Three of the candidates on the republican side are the longest of the longshots.  Don Hooper runs in every election and Stupak did what he does to everybody that runs against him. His campaign didn't take off this year in an open district. Linda Goldthorpe ran in 08, losing to Casperson in the primary. Tom Stillings is another longshot. It will be highly unlikely that either of those candidates win the primary. The two candidates which have a good shot at winning the primary are Dan Benishek and Jason Allen.


Quick overview of the areas:

Marquette area - Solid democrat, yellow dog.

Western UP - Conservative Democrat leaning in most of the area outside of Houghton. Locally, still very democrat. This is Joe Mack country still and is also the traditional mining areas. The GOP almost took this state rep seat in 2000 however, so it can be competitive.

Eastern UP - Slightly Republican leaning at the top of the ticket, but competitive locally.

Sunrise Lower Peninsula - Populist, votes democrat locally, swings on the national level. The state rep/senate seats here can be competitive when open. Alpena and the Standish/Pinconning areas are the major base for the democrats. They prefer social conservative democrats.

Central northern lower - Solidly conservative and leans Republican, although still populist in parts. The energy industry is big, especially in Otsego County. Grayling has the large national guard base. Otsego County is a base county.

Northwest lower - Leans Republican with a couple of rich liberal pockets, although not many compared to Traverse City itself. The townships near the towns in Antrim and Emmet Counties are the most Republican part of the district.

Analyzing the matchups:

Jason Allen v the field:
Geography is Allen's biggest weakness. It was a weakness in the 1990's under the older district borders when Stupak was running up 58% wins against trolls and flatlanders (those who live below the bridge.)  Stupak took the UP big and took the northeastern lower Penninsula as well, and even occasionally picking off Grand Traverse, Antrim, Otsego, and Emmet counties. It's a long tradition that this is the "UP's seat." Traverse City is also considered a "big city" in much of the UP. It's known as a high income area, and that won't play well in much of the UP or on the more labor influenced sunrise side of troll land.

Allen ran in 2002 and 2006 for state senate, winning both times. In an open seat race in 2002, he faced Michael Estes, now Mayor of Traverse City. He won every county except the swing county of Presque Isle (on the sunrise side), and he narrowly won Mackinac and Chippewa counties in the UP. In 2006, he faced Sharon Unger of Antrim County, winning all areas easily. I consider his UP wins against Estes good wins. There's also a difference between facing Estes and McDowell on his home turf.

Allen should clobber Saltonstall. Saltonstall won't beat Allen in his backyard, nor would she get the yooper vote. She may take Alpena, Marquette, Gogebic, Alger, Schoolcraft, and Iron counties based on strict partisanship, but this is a pro-life district.

Joel Sheltrown would be tougher. Sheltrown is a troll, but his views will resonate with a lot of yoopers as well. Sheltrown long has had very good relationships with 2nd amendment and outdoor groups. He's also pro-life (although pro-lifers are very skeptical of all democrats right now with Stupak's decision). Sheltrown is from one of the two most democrat areas in Northern Lower Michigan. His district covers Ogemaw, Roscommon, Iosco, and Missaukee counties. Sheltrown won Missaukee County, which is the 2nd most republican county in the state. It's about 4-5% more Republican than Livingston County by percentage. It's not in the 1st district and neither is Roscommon County. With media overlap, Sheltrown probably has a lot of support in Arenac County (Standish, prisons), the critical Grayling area, and maybe even up to Alpena. With Allen likely not being able to pick up the "Tim Moore" votes, he'd have to go to the UP and pick off the votes there in the critical swing areas. Houghton, Menominee, L'anse, Escanaba.  Possible, but I think someone better can do that.

Gary McDowell is the matchup that scares me with Allen. After the GOP held the competitive state rep position with Scott Shackleton for six years, they ran state senator Walt North who was the deciding vote on mourning dove hunting. North voted it down, the NRA endorsed McDowell (right decision), gave North an F (wrong decision, deserved a C, not an F - he's not in Schwarz category), and McDowell won, and much easier than expected. He won easily twice more, and took a normally GOP base county in Emmet County. Would he take Emmet County against Allen? Probably not, but it would be closer than acceptable. McDowell's a yooper, and will take the key Mackinac and Chippewa county areas, and likely the rest of the UP. Allen would have to run up big numbers in the sunrise areas to counter McDowell. Possible, but difficult.

Dan Benishek v the field.

Benishek should also clobber Saltonstall for the same reasons Allen would.

McDowell would still be a difficult matchup, but this would be yooper v yooper. He's going to have to make up those votes because of the Mackinac/Chippewa home base of McDowell. Houghton, Escanaba, Menominee, and Iron Mountain are key here. Benishek is closer to those areas than McDowell. He should be able to counter McDowell in Anrim, Otsego, and the leaning but not solid Grayling area with good base numbers.That will put the deciding areas over on the sunrise side.

Sheltrown would test the conventional wisdom of the "Yooper" seat. Benishek should take the UP, but not by a big margin with the partisans in the Marquette and Ironwood areas. Sheltrown will take the sunrise vote big ,and cut into the inland margins for the GOP. Benishek would need to win Emmet, Antrim, and Otsego big, and try to pick off Grayling, Mio, and that area.

It's a long election season, and this race is very important. Geography is probably the biggest issue in this populist district. I think it takes a strong yooper to give the GOP the best chances to win. That person is Dan Benishek.

Benishek isn't the establishment. In an area that doesn't like establishment politicians, that's a good thing. As a surgeon, he knows what this health care takeover does to regular Americans. He's a yooper in the "yooper district." He's fighting the establishment. It will probably take a grassroots darkhorse to win this race against a McDowell or Sheltrown democrat. I think Benishek has the best chance to win because of those reasons.

MI-01 update - Gary McDowell is in

The neighborhood just got tougher in the 1st District. I knew there was going to be a yooper democrat running, and it's one I was hoping wasn't going to do it.  One of the best candidate the dems have just announced for Stupak's seat. From Petoskey News-Review:

A crowded 1st Congressional race is quickly becoming a stampede.Both state Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, and state Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, are expected to make their formal announcements to run for the 1st Congressional district seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee.
On Tuesday, McDowell said he made the decision to run for congress after being encouraged about the decision by his family.
"I spoke to my family and many people in the district and I've come to the conclusion that I'd be the best candidate to run for the district and represent the state," McDowell said. 
McDowell, who is term-limited in the 107th House seat, previously planned to run for the 37th Senate seat held by Allen. However, with the surprise announcement that Stupak would end his 18-year tenure in the 1st District, many well-known state politicians have eyed the possibility of heading to Washington, D.C.

Gary McDowell isn't bulletproof as he voted for Granholm's tax policies, but he's still the one candidate so far that actually scares me from a geographic and ideology standpoint. He's a yooper which is a big advantage. He also showed he can win in the more Republican areas of the UP, Chippewa and Mackinac Counties. He even won Emmet County twice, normally a GOP stronghold.  He beat a state senator in Walt North (with major help from the NRA) to win this seat in 2004 after Scott Shackleton was termed out. He, like Sheltrown, can really cut into the 2nd Amendment vote in this district.

So far we have running:

GOP:
Jason Allen - Not formally announced, but an agent speaking for him said he was running last week. Represents part of the district as a state senator.
Dan Benishek - Surgeon who raised some online money after the health care bill. Yooper.
Don Hooper - Frequent candidate against  Stupak. Yooper
Linda Goldthorpe - Ran in 2008 primary, Yooper
Tom Stillings - Active in tea parties, from Torch Lake

DEM:
Gary McDowell
Connie Saltonstall - From Charlevoix, favorite of the "progressive" crowd
Joel Sheltrown - From West Branch. Chair of Natural Resources Committee as state rep. Strong in Northeastern Lower Penninsula.

Will there be a fourth Democrat, especially another yooper. Right now, I hope there is. Who else is running. I'll keep saying this regarding the chances of both parties in the 1st District. It is about matchups. Who matches up best against each other. Once the filings are in, I'll take a close look at them and the strengths and weakness of all of them. 

Defeat Jocelyn Benson! Don't let Soros and the "Secretary of State Project" take over Michigan.

You know, comrades," says Stalin, "that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how. - Boris Bazhanov's Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary 

As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it? - Boss Tweed

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some of the most overlooked and ultra important positions in this state are those who run the elections. Those are the County Clerk, Township/City Clerk, and the Secretary of State's office. It takes the work of these offices and their staffs to run the elections and make sure the process is above board, competent,and with integrity. Livingston County does a great job with its Bureau of Elections. While these positions shouldn't be politicized, at least when it comes to elections, they are in a big way, and this politicization is coming to Michigan.

Some people don't like it when their boys don't make the rules of the game. First and foremost is the benefactor of the democrats, convicted insider trader George Soros, the man who broke the Bank of England. Much like his counterparts at Goldman Sachs, he makes a killing off of speculating, and what better way of doing that than by controlling elections.Other rich leftist democrats also wanted to get their people elected in their attempt to control our lives.

There project is called the Secretary of State Project. It's goal is to get their type of democrats in charge, and then look the other way when ACORN and PIRG to commit voter fraud rigging the election for the democrats. 

They had some success in 2006, setting up for 2008. Jennifer Brunner, now running for senate in Ohio, and Mark Ritchie in Minnesota. 

Foxnews:

Since 2006 the Democracy Alliance, a left leaning influence group funded by George Soros among others, has had remarkable success in targeting and claiming Secretary of State's offices in 11 of 13 critical states they targeted, including Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa.

Called the Secretary of State Project (SOSP) its aim is to target and capture the obscure, often overlooked office and implement election rules changes that give democrats a better chance of winning a plurality. Among those changes that SOSP calls "election protection," are a loosening of voter registration requirements and a lessening of efforts to prevent fraudulent voting, according to Matthew Vadum, a political analyst with the Capitol Research Center.

'The thing that is amazing is that they can get the office for as little $100,000 in campaign funding because no one pays attention to it, and they get to control election opportunities in a state. It is cheap," Vadum said.
He said SOSP is currently targeting three states in the 2010 election: California, Michigan and Minnesota. In total they count for 82 electoral votes.

Vadum says that because of chaos and demoralization the Republican Party has not formulated a response to the SOSP or tried to match their efforts.

Brunner has been a disaster in Ohio, unless you are trying to rig the game for the dems. There was tons of shadiness in Ohio for the 2008 election. The good news about Brunner is that she's running for US Senate where she can do less damage, even if she wins.

Frontpage Mag:

Brunner made news in October 2008 when she declined to hand over to county election boards 200,000 names on voter registration forms where the drivers license or Social Security number on the forms did not match the name. The SoS project praised her actions.

Foxnews source coinsides with Frontpage:

Blackwell's office was one of the first and most critical offices claimed by SOSP. He was succeeded in 2006 by Jennifer Bruner, who received $167,000 in campaign contributions from SOSP, and immediately began a complete overhaul of Ohio's voting system. Among the changes she made were allowing election day registration and the failure to purge election rolls of ineligible and dead voters.
Her most memorable moment was when a federal court judge ruled that she had violated federal law for "not taking adequate steps to validate the identity of newly registered voters." At the time she admitted that there were "discrepancies" in about 200,000 new registrations but refused to allow polling workers to take action on the questionable ballots.

One of the watchdogs, followed Brunner's shenanigans closely. From Discovering the Networks.

When Jennifer Brunner defeated incumbent Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio in 2006, twelve of the eighteen individuals who contributed the maximum $10,000 to Brunner's campaign resided in states other than Ohio. (One of those donors, incidentally, was Teresa Heinz Kerry.) Said Brunner, "I received significant support from the SoS Project, which helped me toward the election."

Brunner went on to make her influence felt in the 2008 election cycle, when she ruled that Ohio residents should be permitted, during the designated early-voting period extending from late September to early October, to register and vote on the very same day. Citing the potential for voter fraud under such an arrangement, Republicans objected. But on September 29 of that year -- the day before early voting was scheduled to commence -- the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed Brunner's decision.

In a separate matter, Brunner sought to effectively invalidate a million absentee-ballot applications that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign had issued. Each of those applications had been inadvertently printed with an extra, unnecessary checkbox, and Brunner maintained that if a registrant failed to check the box — even if he or she signed the form — the application could be rejected. On October 2, the Ohio Supreme Court overturned Brunner's directive on grounds that it served "no vital purpose or public interest."

Brunner's most noteworthy claim to fame took place in October 2008, when she refused to provide county election boards approximately 200,000 voter-registration forms in which the name did not match the driver's license or Social Security number.

Count the dems, and reject the GOP votes. Boss Tweed would be proud. That's what the Sec of State Project wanted, and what they got.


Mark Ritchie was the Secretary of State who certified Al Franken's win on a recount. He was a Sec of State Project candidate and here's the result.

Foxnews:

(Mary) Kiffmeyer is "absolutely sure" that Ritchie's efforts to eliminate voting regulations ensured Franken's victory.
"The first thing he did when he got into office was to dismantle the ballot reconciliation program we started. Under that program districts are required to check that the number of ballots issued by matching them with the number of ballots cast," she said, "that way we know immediately that the vote count is accurate."
But that isn't what happened, she said. We now have 17,000 more ballots cast than there are voters who voted and no way to determine what went wrong. Why anyone would eliminate that basic check, I don't know," she said.

The Vadum guy quoted earlier was Matthew Vadum. He's one of the main guys at Capitol Research, a good organization has tracked the shadiness of these foundations and similar groups for years. He wrote a good piece in the American Spectator about the Franken-Coleman race and its "http://spectator.org/archives/2008/11/07/sos-in-minnesota">Secretary of State.

Both Franken and Obama, by the way, were endorsed by ACORN Votes, ACORN's federal political action committee.

Minnesota's secretary of state isn't a Democrat by happenstance.

Ritchie, who defeated two-term incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer in 2006, received an endorsement and financial assistance for his run from a below-the-radar non-federal "527" group called the Secretary of State Project. The entity can accept unlimited financial contributions and doesn't have to disclose them publicly until well after the election.

The founders of the Secretary of State Project, which claims to advance "election protection" but only backs Democrats, religiously believe that right-leaning secretaries of state helped the GOP steal the presidential elections in Florida in 2000 (Katherine Harris) and in Ohio in 2004 (Ken Blackwell).

The secretary of state candidates the group endorses sing the same familiar song about electoral integrity issues: Voter fraud is largely a myth, vote suppression is used widely by Republicans, cleansing the dead and fictional characters from voter rolls should be avoided until embarrassing media reports emerge, and anyone who demands that a voter produce photo identification before pulling the lever is a racist, democracy-hating Fascist.

......

Most media reports also leave out the fact that Ritchie has extensive ties to the controversial in-your-face direct action group, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), whose employees have been implicated in electoral fraud time and time again.

In 2006, the Minnesota ACORN Political Action Committee endorsed Ritchie and donated to his campaign. According to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, contributors to Ritchie's campaign included liberal philanthropists George Soros, Drummond Pike, and Deborah Rappaport, along with veteran community organizer Heather Booth, a Saul Alinsky disciple who co-founded the Midwest Academy, a radical ACORN clone. One article on Ritchie's 2006 campaign website brags about the fine work ACORN did in Florida to pass a constitutional amendment to raise that state's minimum wage.

ACORN got their man in. Their man made sure Stuart Smalley became a senator. The good news is that Mark Ritchie is running for re-election in Minnesota. Hopefully, the good people there throw his sorry ass out.

But closer to home, the Secretary of State Project wants their own Mark Ritchie or Jennifer Brunner right here in Michigan. Her name is Jocelyn Benson. What are Benson's credentials?

Benson's a native of Philly, well known for vote fraud. She went to Harvard Law. I've seen enough damage done by Harvard Law politicians like Obama and Granholm to refuse to back anyone who went there for political office. In 2004, for the democrats, she ran the poll challenging/poll watching programs for the DNC. They want the fox guarding the henhouse. She's also a protege of Jennifer Brunner.Yes, that Brunner. She was recently endorsed (before dems convention) by the SEIU, the most far left of the union leadership.

The Blog Prof has been on the case researching Benson with posts here and here.


In order to ensure that elections are fair, conducted with integrity, and legitimate,  Jocelyn Benson and her friends at Secretary of State Project MUST be defeated by any legal means necessary. We must keep ACORN, PIRG-IM, Soros, Moveon.org, and the rest of those groups out of the Sec of State office here.

We'll be keeping a close eye on this race, and there's no better spot than Campaign Finance Reports. BS walks, and money talks, much of it coming from out of state sources. Benson as of January 1st, had $200,000 to dump in this race. It's a quite interesting list. Here's some of the out of state money. A lot of this is from NY, Massachusetts, California, and the Washington DC area.

• Alida Messinger, New York City - $3400, one of the Rockefellers. Senator Jay's sister. 
• Secretary of State Project, Santa Cruz, California - $3200
• Rob McKay, San Francisco - $3400, Taco Bell heir and part of Soros's "Democracy Alliance
• Megan Hull, Washington DC - $3400 - Secretary of State Project
• Ellen Kurz, Cambridge MA - $2000 - Former staffer of Mike Dukakis
• Blair Hull, Chicago - $3400 - Former Senate Candidate, trader, sold his company to Goldman Sachs
• Craig Kaplan, New York City - $1370 - Project Vote Board of Directors
• Mary Delaney, Oakand CA - $1500 - Akonadi Foundation  (Also big Emily's List donor)
• Tom Cosgrove, Cambridge MA - $500 - Dukakis worker, and Huffington Post poster
• Dan Payne, Newton MA - $500 - Massachusetts political consultant
• Amy Pritchard, Washington DC, $500 - DC Consultant
• Jack Corrigan, Brookline MA, $500 - Head Lawyer in Palm Beach County for Gore "Re-re-re-count" efforts. 
• Patricia Bauman, Washington DC, $750 - Bauman Foundation, Pew environmental
• Joe Ganley, Wellesley, MA, $500 - Former Campaign manager to Chris Gabrieli (lost to Patrick in 06 primary)
• Lani Guinier, Cambridge MA, $500 - Clinton's nomination for Assistant Attorney General, supports pure racial quotas and proportional representation on local levels. 
• Laura Quinn, Washington DC, $500 - Al Gore's former Communications director
• Ann McPhail, Arlington VA, $500 - International Monetary Fund
• Holly Schadler, Chevy Chase MD, $500 - Lobbyist, Sierra Club, Clintonite
• Tom Hsieh, San Francisco CA, $500 - Former member San Francisco Board of Supervisors, consultant
• Celinda Lake, Washington DC, $500 - Al Gore's Pollster
• Bill Roberts, Brooklyn NY, $500 - Atlantic Philanthropies - supports Illegal aliens, Aspen Institute, left wing "vote protection" (ie fraud doesn't exist), League of Conservation Voters, Tides Foundation (George Soros),
• Michael Kieschnick, Palo Alto CA, $2000 - One of the founders of the Secretary of State Project and CREDO (Working Assets)
• Joseph Sandler, Bethesda MD, $750 - DNC lawyer, moveon.org advisor, 
• Myles Duffy, Brooklyn NY, $450 - Howard Dean guy
• Gene Karpinski, Arlington VA, $400 - League of Conservation Voters
• Chip Amoe, Washington DC, $366.89 - Lobbyist
• Spencer Overton, Chevy Chase MD, $250.00 - Obama's Deputy Assistant AG for office of legal policy. Worked with "Common Cause" and NAACP's election team. 
• Noah McCormack, Cambridge MA, $250.00 - Harvard Fellow
• Scott Nielsen, Chicago IL, $250.00 - Tied to Soros, Joyce Foundation, and Democracy Alliance (Sec of State Fund)
• Alvaro Bedoya - Washington DC, $250.00 - Counsel to Al Franken, also associate of Soros
• Caron Atlas, Brooklyn NY, $300.00 - Fractured Atlas, Brooklyn Arts organization
• Sanford Newman, Takoma Park MD, $250.00 - Project Vote, associate of ACORN. Where Obama got his start in politics. 
• Sujata Tejwani, New York City, $250.00 - Camp Wellstone (former MN senator Paul Wellstone)
• Andrew Tobias, Miami, $250.00 - Treasurer for democrats, pushed for no fault insurance requirements in California, and absolutely loves current no-fault insurance law in Michigan (but lives in Florida)
• Anne Bartley, San Francisco, $250.00 - Rockefeller funds, Democracy Alliance, and "Grass Roots" Policy Project (SEIU)
• Christopher Edley, Berkeley CA, $750.00 - Dean of University of Cal Berkeley Law School
• Becky Bond, San Francisco, $250.00 - Working Assets/CREDO - (Which raises money for Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood [Barrenhood])
• Kenneth Robinson, Providence RI, $250.00 - Bank Lobbyist
• Jonah Goldman, Washington DC, $250.00 - Glover Park Group, and Democrat voting pusher
• Mark Friedrichs, Washington DC, $250.00 - Department of Energy
• Julia Cohen, Washington DC, $250.00 - Campus Progress (and heads up for vote fraud on campuses)
• Thurgood Marshall Jr, Arlington VA, $250.00 - Former Clinton Attorney, Third Way
• Jackie Bray, Washington DC, $250.00, Staffer for Terry McAuliffe campaign (Clintons's DNC guy)
• Greg Speed, Washington DC, $250.00 - America Votes  (George Soros, Peter Lewis, Herb and Marion Sandler) - also has ties to ACORN, Brady Gun grabbers, Emily's List, SEIU, and a who's who of leftist causes
• Jonathan Barry, Brooklyn NY, $250.00 - Goldman Sachs
• Shaunna Thomas, Washington DC, $250.00 - People for the Unamerican Way
• Angelique Pirozzi, Boston MA, $250.00 -  Organizational Specialist of the National Education Association
• Robert Richman, St Paul MN, $250.00 - Paul Wellstone guy. Grass Roots Solutions. Consulting Firm tied to AFL-CIO. One of his favorite organizers - Saul Alinsky

That's just in the first 250 or so contributions, of a list of 1600. I don't have time yet to go through all of them in detail, but we'll get to more of that at the convention report filing. Tons of out of state, east coast, California, and Chicago machine donations from lobbyists, far leftist interest groups, and Clintonites. This isn't even a congressional race. Further glancing after the 250 shows the city attorney for San Francisco, the fundraiser for Emily's list, the Cambridge MA peace coalition, "Fair elections" co-founder, Harvard professors, Rock the vote organizer, former congressman Marty Meehan from the McCain Feingold bill on the house side, the Massachusetts Deputy Treasurer, . I'm not even getting to our in state usual suspects. These are out of state interferences into Michigan elections.

Keep in mind this is for a MICHIGAN Secretary of State race. These national far leftists want to take our OUR elections. We need to remember this in November, and to tell these people to stay the hell out of Michigan.We do not need to have our elections be laughingstocks like Mark Ritchie's Minnesota was in the Stuart Smalley race. We must defeat Benson in November.

I should break my salt shaker on their heads

That's rhetorically speaking of course, but these people really do need to be fired.

From the Post

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

And this telling remark.

We can't just rely on the individual to do something," said Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served on the Institute of Medicine committee. "Food manufacturers have to reduce the amount of sodium in foods."

It's none of your damn business, or the federal government's.

This is the number one problem with government health care. Big government statists who want to control every aspect of our lives. These people need to be fired, and then given the one finger salute on their way out. 

Michigan 15th District (MI-15) Updated

Update 8-4-2010 - Primary result

Michigan's 15th District - Congress

Incumbent - John Dingell (D-Dearborn)
Years in office as of 2010 election - 55
Cook District Numbers - D+13

GOP Candidates - Rob Steele

Dem Candidate - John Dingell

Barone’s numbers
2008:
Obama - 66%
McCain - 32%

2004:
Kerry - 62%
Bush - 38%

2000
Gore - 60%
Bush - 38%

This district was created to combine two democrat incumbents at the time.Lynn Rivers represented Ann  Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Western Wayne County. John Dingell represented southern Wayne County and Monroe County. The primary pitted two different styles of democrats. The populist labor friend of the auto industry which dominates suburban Wayne County,  and the feminist, green, anti-gunner which dominates the Ann Arbor area. Dingell won, and showed that at then 76 years of age in 2002, he could still campaign with the best of them. Dingell's been in office for 55 years. He originally represented part of the City of Detroit. Now his district is based in part of Downriver.

This district covers all of Monroe County. It also covers in Washtenaw County - The City of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Augusta Township, City of Milan, Pittsfield Township, part of Scio Township, Superior Township, York Township, the City of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township. In Wayne County, it covers Brownstown Township, Part of Dearborn, Part of Dearborn Heights, Flat Rock, Huron Township, Inkster, Rockwood,  Romulus, Sumpter Township, Taylor, and Woodhaven. Most of this area votes for democrats, although Monroe County, Augusta Twp, York Twp, Huron Twp, Flat Rock, and Woodhaven is sometimes competitive. It would take a 1994 type of year to win this district. John Engler did it though, possibly twice.

Here's Dingell's 2008 numbers.

2008 Elections	Lynch	Dingell	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
Monroe County	27,428	45,890	2829	76,147	-18462	36.02%	60.27%	-24.25%
Washtenaw County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
City of Ann Arbor	10,300	46,520	3275	60,095	-36220	17.14%	77.41%	-60.27%
Ann Arbor Township	769	1,768	78	2,615	-999	29.41%	67.61%	-38.20%
Augusta Township	1,127	2,104	177	3,408	-977	33.07%	61.74%	-28.67%
City of Milan	678	1,118	100	1,896	-440	35.76%	58.97%	-23.21%
Pittsfield Township	4,563	10,743	677	15,983	-6180	28.55%	67.22%	-38.67%
Scio Township (4)	41	115	2	158	-74	25.95%	72.78%	-46.84%
Scio Township (7)		2		2	-2	0.00%	100.00%	-100.00%
Scio Township (8)	72	135	5	212	-63	33.96%	63.68%	-29.72%
Scio Township (9)	5	22	4	31	-17	16.13%	70.97%	-54.84%
Superior Township	1,848	4,790	247	6,885	-2942	26.84%	69.57%	-42.73%
York Township	1,981	1,979	173	4,133	2	47.93%	47.88%	0.05%
City of Ypsilanti	1,170	7,185	638	8,993	-6015	13.01%	79.90%	-66.89%
Ypsilanti Township	5,425	19,017	1111	25,553	-13592	21.23%	74.42%	-53.19%
Wayne County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Brownstown Township	3,658	9,580	443	13,681	-5922	26.74%	70.02%	-43.29%
City of Dearborn	5,581	12,242	781	18,604	-6661	30.00%	65.80%	-35.80%
Dearborn Heights	4,660	13,465	757	18,882	-8805	24.68%	71.31%	-46.63%
City of Flat Rock	1,220	2,859	170	4,249	-1639	28.71%	67.29%	-38.57%
Huron Township	2,506	4,504	347	7,357	-1998	34.06%	61.22%	-27.16%
City of Inkster	561	11,059	270	11,890	-10498	4.72%	93.01%	-88.29%
City of Rockwood	435	1,064	55	1,554	-629	27.99%	68.47%	-40.48%
City of Romulus	1,605	9,335	426	11,366	-7730	14.12%	82.13%	-68.01%
Sumpter Township	1,194	3,096	249	4,539	-1902	26.31%	68.21%	-41.90%
City of Taylor	5,750	18,937	1294	25,981	-13187	22.13%	72.89%	-50.76%
City of Woodhaven	1,925	4,265	227	6,417	-2340	30.00%	66.46%	-36.47%
Total	84,502	231,794	14,335	330,631	-147292	25.56%	70.11%	-44.55%

Here's the Presidential numbers broken down by county in the district. I skipped the Scio Township numbers since they were so insignificant parts of a precinct. That means these numbers are more democrat, while the 7th District numbers are slightly more republican.


Monroe County
2000 - Gore 51.07%, Bush 46.84%, 61,785 votes, -2615 vote spread
2004 - Bush 50.54%, Kerry 48.68%, 74,132 votes, 1381 vote spread
2008 - Obama 51.27%, McCain 46.92%, 73502 votes, -3322 vote spread

Washtenaw County Portion
2000 - Gore 67.84%, Bush 30.80%, 105530 votes, -35953 vote spread
2004 - Kerry 69.62%, Bush 29.29%, 124181 votes, -50083 vote spread
2008 - Obama 75.64%, McCain 22.99%, 135100 votes, -71129 vote spread

Wayne County Portion
2000 - Gore 60.12%, Bush 37.56%, 95,965 votes, -21643 vote spread
2004 - Kerry 60.29%, Bush 38.87%, 115802 votes, -24800 vote spread
2008 - Obama 64.29%, McCain 33.98%, 129,313 votes -39191 vote spread.

Here's the 2000 numbers. Surprisingly today, Bush actually won normally democrat Dearborn that year. I think Joe Lieberman may have something to do with that. It's flipped in a big way since then, going back to its roots (Dingell's represented Dearborn since 1966) after the Iraq war.

2000 Elections	Bush	Gore	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
Monroe County	28,940	31,555	1290	61,785	-2615	46.84%	51.07%	-4.23%
Washtenaw County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
City of Ann Arbor	13,473	36,597	2826	52,896	-23124	25.47%	69.19%	-43.72%
Ann Arbor Township	1,167	1,491	79	2,737	-324	42.64%	54.48%	-11.84%
Augusta Township	1,037	1,201	89	2,327	-164	44.56%	51.61%	-7.05%
City of Milan	656	735	28	1,419	-79	46.23%	51.80%	-5.57%
Pittsfield Township	5,183	6,833	390	12,406	-1650	41.78%	55.08%	-13.30%
Scio Township (4)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (7)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (8)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (9)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Superior Township	1,704	2,973	132	4,809	-1269	35.43%	61.82%	-26.39%
York Township	1,740	1,291	87	3,118	449	55.81%	41.40%	14.40%
City of Ypsilanti	1,459	4,681	365	6,505	-3222	22.43%	71.96%	-49.53%
Ypsilanti Township	6,088	12,658	567	19,313	-6570	31.52%	65.54%	-34.02%
Wayne County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Brownstown Township	3,412	4,944	191	8,547	-1532	39.92%	57.84%	-17.92%
City of Dearborn				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D31	253	237	20	510	16	49.61%	46.47%	3.14%
D32	284	249	18	551	35	51.54%	45.19%	6.35%
D33	320	300	18	638	20	50.16%	47.02%	3.13%
D34	350	285	26	661	65	52.95%	43.12%	9.83%
D35	266	188	10	464	78	57.33%	40.52%	16.81%
D36	180	148	7	335	32	53.73%	44.18%	9.55%
D37	156	161	10	327	-5	47.71%	49.24%	-1.53%
D38	158	145	15	318	13	49.69%	45.60%	4.09%
D39	213	133	12	358	80	59.50%	37.15%	22.35%
D40	263	201	13	477	62	55.14%	42.14%	13.00%
D41	278	137	7	422	141	65.88%	32.46%	33.41%
D42	377	213	15	605	164	62.31%	35.21%	27.11%
D43	246	216	13	475	30	51.79%	45.47%	6.32%
D44	295	219	20	534	76	55.24%	41.01%	14.23%
D45	230	181	13	424	49	54.25%	42.69%	11.56%
D46	296	125	14	435	171	68.05%	28.74%	39.31%
D47	231	201	20	452	30	51.11%	44.47%	6.64%
D48	226	155	14	395	71	57.22%	39.24%	17.97%
D49	153	163	14	330	-10	46.36%	49.39%	-3.03%
D50	100	155	10	265	-55	37.74%	58.49%	-20.75%
D955				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D956				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D957				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D958				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Dearborn Heights	11,049	12,574	757	24,380	-1525	45.32%	51.58%	-6.26%
DH 6	-158	-196	-16	(370)	38	42.70%	52.97%	-10.27%
DH7	-266	-290	-19	(575)	24	46.26%	50.43%	-4.17%
DH8	-268	-227	-12	(507)	-41	52.86%	44.77%	8.09%
DH9	-181	-227	-15	(423)	46	42.79%	53.66%	-10.87%
DH10	-160	-218	-14	(392)	58	40.82%	55.61%	-14.80%
DH11	-206	-221	-15	(442)	15	46.61%	50.00%	-3.39%
DH12	-187	-297	-11	(495)	110	37.78%	60.00%	-22.22%
DH13	-267	-262	-12	(541)	-5	49.35%	48.43%	0.92%
DH37	-113	-235	-9	(357)	122	31.65%	65.83%	-34.17%
DH38	-216	-246	-12	(474)	30	45.57%	51.90%	-6.33%
DH941	-409	-478	-21	(908)	69	45.04%	52.64%	-7.60%
DH942	-20	-38		(58)	18	34.48%	65.52%	-31.03%
City of Flat Rock	1,259	1,769	71	3,099	-510	40.63%	57.08%	-16.46%
Huron Township	2,602	3,053	120	5,775	-451	45.06%	52.87%	-7.81%
City of Inkster	976	8,210	102	9,288	-7234	10.51%	88.39%	-77.89%
City of Rockwood	609	870	42	1,521	-261	40.04%	57.20%	-17.16%
City of Romulus	2,106	5,930	164	8,200	-3824	25.68%	72.32%	-46.63%
Sumpter Township	1,467	2,563	69	4,099	-1096	35.79%	62.53%	-26.74%
City of Taylor	7,718	13,708	488	21,914	-5990	35.22%	62.55%	-27.33%
City of Woodhaven	2,427	3,194	87	5,708	-767	42.52%	55.96%	-13.44%
Total	97,496	157,707	8,077	263,280	-60211	37.03%	59.90%	-22.87%

Here's the 2004 numbers.

2004 Elections	Bush	Kerry	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
Monroe County	37,470	36,089	573	74,132	1381	50.54%	48.68%	1.86%
Washtenaw County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
City of Ann Arbor	13,153	45,117	700	58,970	-31964	22.30%	76.51%	-54.20%
Ann Arbor Township	1,083	1,787	10	2,880	-704	37.60%	62.05%	-24.44%
Augusta Township	1,411	1,599	42	3,052	-188	46.23%	52.39%	-6.16%
City of Milan	822	822	17	1,661	0	49.49%	49.49%	0.00%
Pittsfield Township	5,839	9,271	157	15,267	-3432	38.25%	60.73%	-22.48%
Scio Township (4)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (7)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (8)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (9)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Superior Township	2,227	3,948	44	6,219	-1721	35.81%	63.48%	-27.67%
York Township	2,367	1,623	23	4,013	744	58.98%	40.44%	18.54%
City of Ypsilanti	1,581	6,046	125	7,752	-4465	20.39%	77.99%	-57.60%
Ypsilanti Township	7,887	16,240	240	24,367	-8353	32.37%	66.65%	-34.28%
Wayne County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Brownstown Township	5,369	6,916	114	12,399	-1547	43.30%	55.78%	-12.48%
City of Dearborn				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D31	323	343	8	674	-20	47.92%	50.89%	-2.97%
D32	363	266	10	639	97	56.81%	41.63%	15.18%
D33	286	278	2	566	8	50.53%	49.12%	1.41%
D34	366	341	11	718	25	50.97%	47.49%	3.48%
D35	288	231	3	522	57	55.17%	44.25%	10.92%
D36	283	168	6	457	115	61.93%	36.76%	25.16%
D37	380	241	1	622	139	61.09%	38.75%	22.35%
D38	264	237	5	506	27	52.17%	46.84%	5.34%
D39	295	253	7	555	42	53.15%	45.59%	7.57%
D40	245	214	6	465	31	52.69%	46.02%	6.67%
D41	263	212	5	480	51	54.79%	44.17%	10.63%
D42	229	234	10	473	-5	48.41%	49.47%	-1.06%
D43	207	280	2	489	-73	42.33%	57.26%	-14.93%
D44	255	364	10	629	-109	40.54%	57.87%	-17.33%
D45	233	199	7	439	34	53.08%	45.33%	7.74%
D46	256	252	11	519	4	49.33%	48.55%	0.77%
D47	250	262	9	521	-12	47.98%	50.29%	-2.30%
D48	237	286	9	532	-49	44.55%	53.76%	-9.21%
D49	216	260	5	481	-44	44.91%	54.05%	-9.15%
D50	212	235	7	454	-23	46.70%	51.76%	-5.07%
D955				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D956				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D957				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D958				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Dearborn Heights	11,128	14,902	285	26,315	-3774	42.29%	56.63%	-14.34%
DH 6	-148	-257	-1	(406)	109	36.45%	63.30%	-26.85%
DH7	-288	-380	-13	(681)	92	42.29%	55.80%	-13.51%
DH8	-238	-274	-8	(520)	36	45.77%	52.69%	-6.92%
DH9	-195	-232	-8	(435)	37	44.83%	53.33%	-8.51%
DH10	-152	-237	-11	(400)	85	38.00%	59.25%	-21.25%
DH11	-272	-301	-14	(587)	29	46.34%	51.28%	-4.94%
DH12	-243	-336	-9	(588)	93	41.33%	57.14%	-15.82%
DH13	-253	-263	-4	(520)	10	48.65%	50.58%	-1.92%
DH37	-108	-263	-3	(374)	155	28.88%	70.32%	-41.44%
DH38	-208	-282	-11	(501)	74	41.52%	56.29%	-14.77%
DH941	-82	-119	-3	(204)	37	40.20%	58.33%	-18.14%
DH942	-602	-776	-17	(1,395)	174	43.15%	55.63%	-12.47%
City of Flat Rock	1,917	2,233	37	4,187	-316	45.78%	53.33%	-7.55%
Huron Township	3,578	3,417	53	7,048	161	50.77%	48.48%	2.28%
City of Inkster	1,254	9,729	51	11,034	-8475	11.36%	88.17%	-76.81%
City of Rockwood	759	948	10	1,717	-189	44.21%	55.21%	-11.01%
City of Romulus	2,848	7,563	80	10,491	-4715	27.15%	72.09%	-44.94%
Sumpter Township	1,979	2,963	38	4,980	-984	39.74%	59.50%	-19.76%
City of Taylor	10,444	16,377	225	27,046	-5933	38.62%	60.55%	-21.94%
City of Woodhaven	3,076	3,330	49	6,455	-254	47.65%	51.59%	-3.93%
Total	118,854	192,356	2,905	314,115	-73502	37.84%	61.24%	-23.40%

Here's the 2008 numbers.

2008 Elections	McCain	Obama	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
Monroe County	35,858	39,180	1384	76,422	-3322	46.92%	51.27%	-4.35%
Washtenaw County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
City of Ann Arbor	10,712	51,587	836	63,135	-40875	16.97%	81.71%	-64.74%
Ann Arbor Township	829	1,836	23	2,688	-1007	30.84%	68.30%	-37.46%
Augusta Township	1,489	1,979	78	3,546	-490	41.99%	55.81%	-13.82%
City of Milan	802	1,151	31	1,984	-349	40.42%	58.01%	-17.59%
Pittsfield Township	5,042	11,342	210	16,594	-6300	30.38%	68.35%	-37.97%
Scio Township (4)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (7)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (8)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Scio Township (9)				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Superior Township	2,048	4,951	109	7,108	-2903	28.81%	69.65%	-40.84%
York Township	2,313	1,934	56	4,303	379	53.75%	44.95%	8.81%
City of Ypsilanti	1,306	7,828	170	9,304	-6522	14.04%	84.14%	-70.10%
Ypsilanti Township	6,517	19,579	342	26,438	-13062	24.65%	74.06%	-49.41%
Wayne County:				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Brownstown Township	5,373	8,668	138	14,179	-3295	37.89%	61.13%	-23.24%
City of Dearborn				-	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
D31	212	423	8	643	-211	32.97%	65.79%	-32.81%
D32	280	389	14	683	-109	41.00%	56.95%	-15.96%
D33	230	350	10	590	-120	38.98%	59.32%	-20.34%
D34	402	581	22	1,005	-179	40.00%	57.81%	-17.81%
D35	261	351	10	622	-90	41.96%	56.43%	-14.47%
D36	269	370	16	655	-101	41.07%	56.49%	-15.42%
D37	250	306	12	568	-56	44.01%	53.87%	-9.86%
D38	300	301	11	612	-1	49.02%	49.18%	-0.16%
D39	316	360	9	685	-44	46.13%	52.55%	-6.42%
D40	286	302	8	596	-16	47.99%	50.67%	-2.68%
D41	415	381	9	805	34	51.55%	47.33%	4.22%
D42	276	344	10	630	-68	43.81%	54.60%	-10.79%
D43	365	387	20	772	-22	47.28%	50.13%	-2.85%
D44	441	471	24	936	-30	47.12%	50.32%	-3.21%
D45	373	598	27	998	-225	37.37%	59.92%	-22.55%
D46	355	540	16	911	-185	38.97%	59.28%	-20.31%
D47	269	390	17	676	-121	39.79%	57.69%	-17.90%
D48	281	373	9	663	-92	42.38%	56.26%	-13.88%
D49	380	574	31	985	-194	38.58%	58.27%	-19.70%
D50	277	490	18	785	-213	35.29%	62.42%	-27.13%
D955	630	580	16	1,226	50	51.39%	47.31%	4.08%
D956	544	532	12	1,088	12	50.00%	48.90%	1.10%
D957	573	655	27	1,255	-82	45.66%	52.19%	-6.53%
D958	465	491	19	975	-26	47.69%	50.36%	-2.67%
Dearborn Heights	9,466	16,095	543	26,104	-6629	36.26%	61.66%	-25.39%
DH 6	-96	-313	-5	(414)	217	23.19%	75.60%	-52.42%
DH7	-242	-413	-9	(664)	171	36.45%	62.20%	-25.75%
DH8	-196	-281	-7	(484)	85	40.50%	58.06%	-17.56%
DH9	-142	-282	-8	(432)	140	32.87%	65.28%	-32.41%
DH10	-126	-216	-10	(352)	90	35.80%	61.36%	-25.57%
DH11	-185	-321	-10	(516)	136	35.85%	62.21%	-26.36%
DH12	-180	-331	-13	(524)	151	34.35%	63.17%	-28.82%
DH13	-199	-280	-8	(487)	81	40.86%	57.49%	-16.63%
DH37	-86	-305	-7	(398)	219	21.61%	76.63%	-55.03%
DH38	-162	-278	-20	(460)	116	35.22%	60.43%	-25.22%
DH941	-71	-144	-4	(219)	73	32.42%	65.75%	-33.33%
DH942	-697	-804	-36	(1,537)	107	45.35%	52.31%	-6.96%
City of Flat Rock	1,807	2,504	101	4,412	-697	40.96%	56.75%	-15.80%
Huron Township	3,669	3,852	176	7,697	-183	47.67%	50.05%	-2.38%
City of Inkster	699	11,340	72	12,111	-10641	5.77%	93.63%	-87.86%
City of Rockwood	678	900	39	1,617	-222	41.93%	55.66%	-13.73%
City of Romulus	2,404	9,202	164	11,770	-6798	20.42%	78.18%	-57.76%
Sumpter Township	1,696	2,961	84	4,741	-1265	35.77%	62.46%	-26.68%
City of Taylor	9,224	17,264	563	27,051	-8040	34.10%	63.82%	-29.72%
City of Woodhaven	2,863	3,781	110	6,754	-918	42.39%	55.98%	-13.59%
Total	110,863	224,505	5,467	340,835	-113642	32.53%	65.87%	-33.34%

The farm club has mostly democrat areas, but not all of them are.

St. Senate 18th - Covers the City of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Twp, Augusta Twp, City of Chelsea, Dexter Twp, Freedom Twp, Lima Twp, Lyndon Twp, Northfield Twp, a small portion of Pittsfield Twp, Salem Twp, Scio Twp, Sharon Twp, Superior Twp, Sylvan Twp, City of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Twp in Washtenaw County. This is one of the most democrat state senate seats in the state. Most of this is in the 15th District (Dingell), but some of this is in the 7th.

St Senate 18th	GOP	Dem
06 - Kopinski/Brater	29,075	72,774	3	101,852	-43699	28.55%	71.45%	-42.90%
02 - Darr/Brater	27,726	52,912	2635	83,273	-25186	33.30%	63.54%	-30.25%

St. Senate 17th - Covers all of Monroe County, Grass Lake, Leoni, Norvell, and Summit Twps in Jackson County, and Bridgwater Twp, Lodi Twp, Manchester Twp, city of Milan, Pittsfield Twp, City of Saline, Saline Twp, and York Twp in Washtenaw County. This is another swing district. Monroe County is a swing county that has gone democrat more than republican. The rest of the area swings as well, although Washtenaw County portion is more democrat and the Jackson County portion more republican, although neither overwhelmingly so (Jackson thanks to Leoni, Washtenaw, thanks to everything but Pittsfield).The Jackson County and some of the Washtenaw County portion is in the 7th district. The rest is in the 15th. Randy Richardville is the incumbent who won in the tough 2006 year.

St Senate 17th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party
06 - Richardville/Schockman	52113	45445		97,558	6668	53.42%	46.58%	6.83%
02 - Hammerstrom/LeMasters	44773	30262		75,035	14511	59.67%	40.33%	19.34%

St Senate 8th -  Covers Allen Park, Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, Riverview, Romulus, Southgate, Taylor, Wayne, and Wyandotte in Wayne County. This is one of the two main downriver districts. It is solidly democrat with only Allen Park occasionally competitive. Ray Basham is a termed out incumbent most famous for the big government smoking ban.

St Senate 8th	GOP	Dem	3rd party
06 - Kalsic/Basham	21,727	58,501	2197	82,425	-36774	26.36%	70.97%	-44.62%
02 - Montelauro/Basham	22,128	43,874	2312	68,314	-21746	32.39%	64.22%	-31.83%

St Senate 7th - Covers Belleville, Brownstown Twp, Canton Twp, City of Flat Rock, Gibralter, Grosse Ile Twp, Huron Twp, City of Northville (Wayne County side), Northville Twp, City of Plymouth, Plymouth Twp, City of Rockwood, Sumpter Twp, City of Trenton, Van Buren Twp, and City of Woodhaven in Wayne County. This is a swing district, if not slightly democrat leaning. Bruce Patterson had two tough wins and is termed out. Patterson won, by cutting into the normal GOP losses in the downriver portions of the district, while winning Canton, Plymouth Twp and Northville. This will be a major battle in 2010. It's been a battleground district for years, as was its similar district pre-redistricting represented by Lorne Bennett.

St Senate 7th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party
06 - Patterson/Slavens	59,647	56,156		115,803	3491	51.51%	48.49%	3.01%
02 - Patterson/Mans	52,435	40,675		93,110	11760	56.32%	43.68%	12.63%

St Senate 5th - Dearborn Heights, Detroit, and Inkster - This is a minority majority district based in Detroit. Dearborn Heights separates black majority Inkster and Detroit, so it's included. Detroit itself is the most democrat city over 100,000 people in the country. Tupac Hunter is the incumbent.

St Senate 5th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
06 - Malhalab/Hunter	8,164	56,252	1510	65,926	-48088	12.38%	85.33%	-72.94%
02 - Patrick/Leland	10,334	49,780		60,114	-39446	17.19%	82.81%	-65.62%

St Senate 3rd - Covers Dearborn, Detroit, and River Rouge - This is also a minority majority district based in Detroit. Dearborn is about 1/3 of the district and is outvoted by Detroit. Irma Clark-Coleman is the incumbent and is termed out. .

St Senate 3rd	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
06 - Sophiea/Clark-Coleman	12,353	58,063		70,416	-45710	17.54%	82.46%	-64.91%
02 - Hernandez/Clark	12,855	53,395	3	66,253	-40540	19.40%	80.59%	-61.19%

St Rep 56th - Covers Ash Township, Berlin Township,  Exeter Township, Frenchtown Township, Ida Township, La Salle Township, London Township, City of Luna Pier, City of Monroe, Monroe Township, and Raisinville Township in Monroe County. This is a swing district with a slight democrat leaning, although Randy Richardville has won here on several occasions. Kate Ebli is the incumbent.

St Rep 56th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Dahm/Ebli	15,459	28,495	1224	45,178	-13036	34.22%	63.07%	-28.85%
06 - Manor/Ebli	16,133	18,468		34,601	-2335	46.63%	53.37%	-6.75%
04 - Manor/Kerhl	20,671	21,554	1662	43,887	-883	47.10%	49.11%	-2.01%
02 - Richardville/Sacks	17,357	9,004		26,361	8353	65.84%	34.16%	31.69%

St Rep 55th - Covers Bedford Township, Dundee Township, Erie Township, City of Milan, Milan Township, City of Petersburg, Summerfield Township, and Whiteford Township in Monroe County, and City of Milan, Pittsfield Township, One precinct in Saline Township, and York Township in Washtenaw County. This is a swing district with the more Republican areas of Monroe County, and democrat Pittsfield Township in Washtenaw County. Pittsfield's leanings alone can flip this seat as it happened in 2004.
 

St Rep 55th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Moynihan/Angerer	17,054	33,236		50,290	-16182	33.91%	66.09%	-32.18%
06 - Milosch/Angerer	13,208	23,409		36,617	-10201	36.07%	63.93%	-27.86%
04 - Milosch/Angerer	23,980	24,299		48,279	-319	49.67%	50.33%	-0.66%
02 - Milosch/Hauser-Hurley	14,287	12,679		26,966	1608	52.98%	47.02%	5.96%

St Rep 54th - Covers Augusta Township, Salem Township, Superior Township, the City of Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti township in Washtenaw County. This is a solidly democrat district based in Ypsi.

St Rep 54th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Banks/Smith	12,283	33,509	1319	47,111	-21226	26.07%	71.13%	-45.06%
06 - Banks/Smith	9,036	22,250	1402	32,688	-13214	27.64%	68.07%	-40.42%
04 - Myers/Smith	12,698	28,568	860	42,126	-15870	30.14%	67.82%	-37.67%
02 - Trent/Jamnick	8,112	17,888		26,000	-9776	31.20%	68.80%	-37.60%

St Rep 53rd - Covers most of Ann Arbor, part of Ann Arbor Township, and small parts of Pittsfield and  Scio Townships in Washtenaw County - This is one of the two most liberal districts in the state.

St Rep 53rd	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Brewton/Warren	8,282	37,845	2200	48,327	-29563	17.14%	78.31%	-61.17%
06 - Sheagren/Warren	5,898	26,985	847	33,730	-21087	17.49%	80.00%	-62.52%
04 - Sheagren/Kolb	9,127	36,745		45,872	-27618	19.90%	80.10%	-60.21%
02 - Milroy/Kolb	6,279	22,254		28,533	-15975	22.01%	77.99%	-55.99%

St Rep 52nd - Covers Northeastern Ann Arbor, most of Ann Arbor Twp, Bridgwater Twp, City of Chelsea, Dexter Twp, Freedom Twp, Lima Twp, Lodi Twp, Lyndon Twp, Manchester Twp, Northfield Twp, City of Saline, Scio Twp, Sharon Twp, Sylvan Twp, and Webster Twp. This was created as a swing district, but does have some democrat leanings, especially within the last 6 years. Gene DeRossett won the district in 2002 by winning big in the far western townships as a two term incumbent (of a less democrat district). Pam Byrnes won the 2004 open seat and has held it since. She's termed out. The open seat I'd say favors a democrat, but the Republicans have their best candidate running in Mark Ouimet, who as a county commissioner, somehow still wins in Scio Twp. This will be one to watch.

St Rep 52nd	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Lielbriedis/Byrnes	19,180	35,957	1982	57,119	-16777	33.58%	62.95%	-29.37%
06 - Brown/Byrnes	16,747	28,046		44,793	-11299	37.39%	62.61%	-25.22%
04 - Yekulis/Byrnes	24,669	29,740		54,409	-5071	45.34%	54.66%	-9.32%
02 - DeRossett/Byrnes	19,579	17,091		36,670	2488	53.39%	46.61%	6.78%

State Rep 23rd - Covers Brownstown Township, Flat Rock, Gibralter, Grosse Ile Township, Huron Township, Rockwood, Sumpter Township, and Woodhaven in Wayne County. This is a slight democrat leaning district, but competitive some years. It was very close in 2002.

St Rep 23rd	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - DeBlois/Kennedy	18,376	26,987		45,363	-8611	40.51%	59.49%	-18.98%
06 - Bostic/Law	12,677	21,636		34,313	-8959	36.95%	63.05%	-26.11%
04 - Vollenweider/Law	19,202	24,004	727	43,933	-4802	43.71%	54.64%	-10.93%
02 - Jones/Law	13,171	13,430	552	27,153	-259	48.51%	49.46%	-0.95%

State Rep 22nd - Covers Romulus and Taylor in Wayne County - Solidly democrat district covering the airport area. Heavily union and airport workers.

St Rep 22nd	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - McNeill/Geiss	6,780	25,676	3919	36,375	-18896	18.64%	70.59%	-51.95%
06 - Armstrong/Hopgood	5,882	19,260	895	26,037	-13378	22.59%	73.97%	-51.38%
04 - Kalsic/Hopgood	8,863	24,375	1807	35,045	-15512	25.29%	69.55%	-44.26%
02 - Vaughan/Hopgood	5,696	14,042	657	20,395	-8346	27.93%	68.85%	-40.92%

State Rep 16th - Covers part of Allen Park, part of Dearborn Heights, Garden City, and Inkster - Solidly democrat. All areas here lean democrat, with Inkster anchoring this seat.

St Rep 16th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Smith/Constan	9,133	28,195		37,328	-19062	24.47%	75.53%	-51.07%
06 - DeLozier/Constan	7,002	19,346		26,348	-12344	26.58%	73.42%	-46.85%
04 - Lauster/Plakas	9,259	25,756	1626	36,641	-16497	25.27%	70.29%	-45.02%
02 - Homeier/Plakas	5,595	16,693	913	23,201	-11098	24.12%	71.95%	-47.83%

State Rep 15th - Covers most of Dearborn - Strongly leans democrat, although Gary Woronchak won as a republican before switching parties. Dearborn long leaned Democrat being Dingell's home base since the 1960's. Bush won it in 2000, but Iraq shifted Dearborn about 10% more D at the top of the ticket.

St Rep 15th	GOP	Dem	3rd Party	Total	Diff.	GOP%	Dem%	Diff%
08 - Saionz/Polidori	8,292	28,606		36,898	-20314	22.47%	77.53%	-55.05%
06 - Ghasham/Polidori	6,755	21,391		28,146	-14636	24.00%	76.00%	-52.00%
04 - Thomas/Polidori	13,063	23,923		36,986	-10860	35.32%	64.68%	-29.36%
02 - Woronchak	19,227			19,227	19227	100.00%	0.00%	100.00%

Overall, this is a seat that did its job in 2002. It combined the Lynn Rivers base in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti with Dingell's base in Southern Wayne County and Monroe County in an attempt to knock out Lynn Rivers or John Dingell. It did exactly that. It is a very difficult district for the GOP to win, although Engler carried it in 1998. Dingell's a hard worker, and usually doesn't take elections for granted. It depends on whether the bleeding can be stopped in the Ann Arbor area bringing it back at least to its 1990's era numbers (more the burbs), carrying Monroe big, and finally breaking through downriver with Inkster, Romulus, and a lot of the democrat base staying home. It's easy to say, and difficult to do, as this seat was gerrymandered to put two different democrat bases together, without giving Dingell's home to the Conyers district.

Update 5-18-2010 - I'm surprised there's a 5 way primary on the GOP side considering this district's history. Two of the candidates are in Ypsi, and three are in Wayne County. Maybe something is brewing here. At worst case scenario, maybe we can flip the Monroe districts and one of the downriver seats with some hard work.