"Michigan Blues"

There's a good article in TIME this week about the importance of Michigan in the upcoming election, or more specifically the importance of Oakland County**. The article puts to light how important the economy is when it comes to voting in Michigan.

I understand that the recession has been hitting the nation, but let me point out that Michigan was technically the only state in recession last year, and the only one to lose population due to people leaving the state in search of jobs.

The article puts it nicely:

"But to fully grasp why the economy is the first, last, and only issue on the minds of Michigan voters this year, this one fact reveals all: two months after the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, there is no waiting list for season tickets."

"Despite its wealth, Oakland is feeling pain from the economic downturn. The most recent round of auto-industry cuts has walloped white collar engineers and researchers who call Oakland County home. Take a drive through the hardest-hit neighborhoods, and you'll see blocks on which one-third or more of the houses have a FOR SALE sign planted in their front yard."

"But this year McCain's approach to the economy may be squandering that reservoir of goodwill. During a primary-campaign stop-over, he offered a straight-talk diagnosis: 'Some jobs that have left Michigan are not coming back.' He has since tried to massage the message, but that task was made more difficult during a visit with GM workers, which McCain spent explaining why one of his closest advisers had just dismissed concerns about the economy as a 'mental recession.'"

"The other challenge Obama faces in Oakland is Michigan's tainted Democratic brand. Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm has an approval rating of only 20%. And in Detroit, which lies just on the other side of 8 Mile Road, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces a long litany of legal and ethical woes stemming from his affair with a co-worker. Kilpatrick had to post a $7,500 bond to remain out of jail and take a court-ordered drug test. Republicans hope a weakened Democratic machine in Detroit will hamper Obama's effort in the fall. "Obama will have to go in himself and build his own machine," predicts GOP state-party chair Saul Anuzis. It's a fairly safe bet that the nation's first black presidential nominee will turn out the vote in the country's most predominantly black city. But the danger for Obama is that years of scandalous headlines about a young black man in power in Detroit will have a much subtler impact on the way suburban voters view Obama's candidacy. As longtime Democrat David Bonior notes, 'Often there's a reaction against Detroit in Oakland County.'"

All I got to say is they nailed it on the head. We're looking forward to lots of presidential campaign exposure.

**Oakland has been one of the top 5 wealthiest counties in the country