Self-Inflicted Injuries

A version of this post also appeared at Michigan Liberal.
Michigan native and gimlet-eyed blogger Nate Silver asks what’s wrong with Obama in Michigan. It’s not a pretty picture, all the more because some of the reasons are clearly self-inflicted.
The campaign’s late start is a big reason. As he explains:
In conversations with friends and family during [...]

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Why Reform Headed South

To understand the motive for the Reformed Michigan Government Now! proposal, one need look no further than this map*:

As the Grand Rapids Press detailed, US Census figures for migration show a state hemorrhaging population. This dark blue vector from Wayne to Saginaw is a dagger to the heart of Michigan’s industry. Collectively, these [...]

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Selling Out Our Values

The item is relatively small, almost a toss away. Under the guise of election reform the Reform Michigan Government Now! proposal would “prohibit illegal immigrants from registering or voting” (as the UAW PowerPoint summarizes it).
Who could be against that? By definition you need to be a citizen to vote.  Rather obvious, really. [...]

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The Partisan Monoculture

Early in the week, Phil Power had an interesting column on Reform Michigan Government Now (RMGN) , in part reacting to the Chamber’s counter survey (more on that later), and in part looking at the impact of redistricting. With approximately three quarters of all seats defined as strongly favoring one party (“gerrymandered” would be the [...]

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Michigan Primary Redux

(update: There was an embarassing numbers mistake below. What I read as $17 million for Justice Corrigan, was 17,000. Oh what a difference those extra 000s make. My apologies. The numbers (and their impact) have been corrected)
The Reform Michigan Government Now proposal increasingly ought to come with a warning: be careful what [...]

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A Return to the Old Days

The news that the Reform Michigan Government Now! is the “brain” child of union and Democratic Party, sadly, is not surprising. It brings back an older form of Michigan Democratic politics, and a rift we have worked to heal in Kent Count
And what a rift it was.
In 1984, when I came to the Party, [...]

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Weekend Redistricting Playroom

One of the better ways to understand Reform Michigan Government Now! is to look at the county by county impact of its redistricting.  Here is an Excel worksheet for your amusement, with counties listed from most Democratic to least.  In between (clear background) are the Swing Districts.  And what bounces up immediately is the presence [...]

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More on Redistricting in RMGN

When Reform Michigan Government Now calls 53 percent base vote a Swing District, I get nervous. After 20 years of going hand-to-hand, neighborhood by neighborhood, I would suggest that when the base gets that big it’s a pretty tough row to hoe.
Again, we’ll have to do a little analysis. Generally a your base [...]

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Gaming Non-Partisanship

The Reform Michigan Government Now (RMGN) plan is filled with all sorts of unintended consequences. The last post spoke of the 50 percent solution that actually shrinks Democratic representation, today we need to look at how the redistricting will actually take place. That is, how does RMGN envision effecting this 50/50 split [...]

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The 50 percent solution

The Reform Michigan Government Now (RMGN) proposal  comes with a lot of interesting details, but the one that gets me, is the notion that the state’s electorate basically splits 50-50, Democrats and Republicans.
Call me a contrarian, but does this match reality?
First, however, you need to understand how the base vote is calculated.  As the proposal [...]

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