More Michigan Results and general Election Comments

Governor: Jennifer Granholm (D) was reelected.
Granholm is not t she's not that bad, and certainly she's much better than many other Democrat governors. Certainly much of the state of the economy in Michigan is her fault (economic policy, tax system, this cool cities initiative to nowhere)and lack of strong leadership for change in business taxes and regulations to improce the economy. But much is not solely her fault due to structural problems with the way the state's economy is focussed on the auto industry and years of neglect of vital infrastructure such as roads. It is somewhat surprising that she was reelected given the one-state recession Michigan is in, but I think she got a boost from the anti-Bush straight-ticket Dem vote that helped her move forward.

Granholm is not rabidly anti-gun and instead seems to be a "way the wind blows" politician on the issue, and for now, the wind is not blowing towards more gun control.

Michigan will not cease to exist due to Granholm's reelection, and hopefully her time in office has seasoned her and she's ready to work with the Republican legislature to move the State forward out of its economic malaise.

Attorney General: Mike Cox (R) was reelected.
This is a positive result. he's been very effective as our Attorney General and good on gun rights in terms of getting reciprocity agreements signed with other states (Although he really needs to hurry up and get the deal through with West Virginia, what 's the delay there?)and on properly interpreting Michigan law to permit Class 3 firearms after a Democrat anti-gun AG did a twisted interpretation to prevent it.

Cox was also very effective in collecting child support from non-payors, which saves taxpayers money from having to support the kids the deadbeat parents should be supporting.

Democrats also took control of Michigan's State House and increased their presence in the Michigan Senate.

At the Federal level, Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow was reelected and easily beat challenger Michael Bouchard 57% to 41%. There's no doubt Michigan is a blue state now.

As an aside It is funny that Dems are blue and repubs are red. Democrats really should be Red considering they are closer to socialism/communism than Republicans, but perhaps they're blue for all the blurbloods they run such as Kerry and Kennedy.The change seems to be media driven and perhaps has the message of Republicans as red for aggressive or dangerous and Democrats for blue as cool. Sadly the media reality is the reality and given the media's constant bad news about the economy in the nation, even in the face of excellent economic growth and cnstant downplaying of the situation in iraq, its not surprising that many people went for the Dems this time.

I expect the media to soon start reporting how wonderful the economy is once the Democrats take control of the House and Senate. Indeed, on Iraq, had it been a democrat president I'm positive the media would be reporting things are going very well, not to mention playing up the fact that the pre-insurgency stage where Iraq was overwhelmed in short order in Operation Iraqi Freedom was the greatest military victory in the Middle East since the Six Day War.

In many ways this election was the Republicans to lose, and lose it they did. Hopefully they will learn that"

1. You can't be Democrat-lite and try to spend like a Democrat, if you do, there's nothing distinguishing you from "The Real Thing" and people wil vote for the real thing everytime.

2. The corruption must cease. Once again quit being the Democrat-Lite party.

3. Small government Republicans win, Big-Government (ie Democrat-lite) loses. if you turn your back on your principles, expect voters to turn their backs on you.

4. The media reality is the reality. Republicans must work harder to handle a hostile media environment, whether by holding lots more townhall meetings, fireside chats and other direct addresses to the nation and lots more internet-savy activities or some other means, it better be done.