Mitt Romney

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February 29, 2012 | 11:07 AM | By Micki Maynard

Michigan’s Done, Now Comes Ohio, With Many Things The Same

Over to you, Ohio. 

Mitt Romney’s narrow victory Tuesday night over Rick Santorum in the Michigan Republican primary now sets the stage for a repeat in the Buckeye State. And already, the situation is mirroring the one in Michigan.

A Quinnipiac University survey, published Monday, finds Santorum with a 7 percent lead over Romney in Ohio, the same lead he held two weeks ago. The Ohio Poll, by the University of Cincinnati, shows Santorum with an 11 percent lead.

Santorum led Romney by as much as 20 percent coming into the Michigan primary, too.

As in Michigan, a lot of people tell pollsters they may change their minds, which means lots of campaign appearances between now and next Tuesday. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics, Mitt Romney, Ohio. Michigan, Republican Party, Rick Santorum, Super Tuesday
February 28, 2012 | 6:59 PM | By Micki Maynard

Election Night in Michigan, From Changing Gears

Thanks for reading our updates on the Michigan primary race. We’ll be back on Wednesday with a look ahead to Ohio’s contest on Super Tuesday.

10:35 pm ET News organizations declare Romney the winner. It wasn’t the blow out that Romney might have wanted, but virtually all the major news organizations, including NPR, the New York Times, and the broadcast and cable networks, have called the Michigan primary for him.

With about 70 percent of votes in, Romney is leading Santorum by 41.6 percent to 37.3 percent. Since delegates are awarded on congressional districts, and the vote totals are not in, it’s not possible to divide them up yet. But both will get some.

CNN reports that Santorum called Romney before his speech to concede.

“Thank you, Michigan, what a win. Thanks, you guys,” Romney said at his campaign event. in Novi, Mich. “This is the place where I was born, this is the place that I was raised…I know that Michiganders in this room, we consider you all family.”

He added, “We didn’t win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that’s all that counts.”

10:15 pm ET. NBC calls it; Santorum speaks. NBC News becomes the first network to call the state for Romney. In Grand Rapids, an upbeat Santorum speaks to his followers. He thanks his supporters and says, “A month ago, they didn’t know who we were. They do now.”

He talks about his mother, who lived in Saginaw, and speaks of his college-educated wife. The comments are a contrast to Santorum’s dismissal of President Obama as a “snob” because he supports college education programs. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Primary, Republican, Rick Santorum
February 28, 2012 | 10:48 AM | By Micki Maynard

4 Things We Learned About Michigan Through The Primary

If you want an honest opinion, ask a stranger, or so the saying goes. During the past couple of weeks, the political press corps has been spread out across Michigan, following Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul around the state, finding all kinds of things out.

Their stories have reflected a state that some Midwesterners might not recognize. So, here’s a list of what we learned through the Michigan primary.

1) We’re in a class war. The Michigan Republican party is divided between wealthy people and working class and middle class Republicans, or so writers told us.

Ron Brownstein of the National Journal found the latter at the Knights of Columbus hall in Lincoln Park.

They’re what he needs if Santorum is going to eventually beat Romney. He ” will likely have to reach more deeply into blue-collar, heavily Catholic, working-class white communities that have became central to the Republican electoral coalition, especially between the coasts,” Brownstein wrote.

Paul West of the Los Angeles Times found the same thing when he went to Troy. “The bitter Republican primary battle in Michigan has turned into an all-out class war,” he wrote. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Republican, Ron Paul, Ron Santorum, Upper Peninsula
February 27, 2012 | 11:21 AM | By Micki Maynard

Michigan Primary Raises A Big Question: Who Gets Credit For The Bailout?

Publicus Tacitus, the Roman senator, is given credit for coining the phrase, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” He’d feel right at home during the Michigan Republican primary campaign.

Ford's Rouge plant, by Charles Sheeler

Over the past few weeks, candidates, their opponents and those who played a role have been debating just who should get credit for the auto industry bailout.

It’s a long-overdue discussion of what happened a little over three years ago, and the conversation shows just what a political hot button the situation still is for people in Michigan and the Midwest. Here’s a list of credit takers and how they make their cases. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Politics, auto bailout, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, United Auto Workers
February 26, 2012 | 10:38 AM | By Micki Maynard

On A Busy Campaign Weekend, Santorum Ventures Up North in Michigan

Republican candidates are wrapping up a busy weekend of campaigning before Michigan’s primary on Tuesday. But Rick Santorum is going where few have ventured — Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Santorum was set to hold a campaign rally at noon ET in Marquette, marking a rare visit by a candidate above the Mackinac Bridge.

The vast majority of candidate visits have been to southeast and western Michigan — not surprising, since that’s where the vast majority of Republican voters are located.

But, the U.P. has a Republican congressman, Dan Benishak. He took the seat vacated by veteran Democrat Bart Stupak in 2010. (You might remember Stupak for backing President Obama’s health care program.) Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Republican primary, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Upper Peninsula
February 24, 2012 | 10:42 AM | By Micki Maynard

Down The Stretch They Come In The Michigan Primary

It snowed overnight in Michigan, providing an icy backdrop as Republican presidential candidates kicked off the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s primary.

Things got off to a quick start. United Auto Workers members gathered on a downtown Detroit parking garage rooftop Friday morning, staging a protest in advance of Mitt Romney’s speech to the Economic Club of Detroit.

Our friends at WXYZ-TV are broadcasting Romney’s speech live. The lunch is scheduled to begin at noon ET.

Romney is speaking at Ford Field, normally home to the Detroit Lions, as polls show he’s taken a slight lead over Pennsylvania’s former U.S. senator, Rick Santorum.

The Five Thirty Eight blog says Romney now has a 67 percent chance of beating Santorum on Tuesday. Its calculations show Romney taking 41.1 percent of the vote, with Santorum getting 36.4 percent. The next closest candidate is Ron Paul with 11.9 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 9.3 percent. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Politics, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republican primary, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul
February 23, 2012 | 11:57 AM | By Micki Maynard

The Auto Bailout Gets The Spotlight As Republicans, Democrats Spar

About midway through Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Mesa, Arizona, moderator John King of CNN turned to a topic that’s front and center in the Michigan primary: the auto bailout.

It momentarily turned into a free for all between Michigan’s native son, Mitt Romney, and Pennsylvania’s former U.S. senator, Rick Santorum, over what kind of help the federal government should have given the auto companies. You can read and see CNN’s coverage here.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama’s campaign jumped into the fray with a new television ad that began airing in Michigan, which holds its primary next Tuesday.

The ad, called Made in America, contends Republicans turned their back on the industry in 2008 and 2009, when the automakers went to Washington for federal assistance. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Government, Industry, Jobs, Politics, bailout, Barack Obama, Chrysler, General Motors, Michigan, Mitt Romney, New York Times, Republican primary, Rick Santorum
February 22, 2012 | 10:23 AM | By Micki Maynard

Michigan’s Primary Race Tightens As Romney Talks Right To Work

A new poll by NBC News shows Mitt Romney taking a narrow lead over Rick Santorum in the race to win Michigan’s Republican primary next Tuesday.

The NBC poll, out Wednesday, showed 37 percent of likely voters support the former Massachusetts governor, while 35 percent support the former Pennsylvania senator. To statisticians, that’s within the margin of error, meaning a statistical tie.

“Michigan is neck and neck,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the NBC survey.

That’s a big change from last week, when Santorum led Romney in two Michigan polls. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Jobs, Politics, Barack Obama, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Primary, Republican, Rick Santorum, Rick Snyder, Right to Work
February 20, 2012 | 10:54 AM | By Micki Maynard

Michigan Primary Race Tightens As Candidates Blanket The State

A new poll out Monday shows the Michigan Republican primary race is tightening. Public Policy Polling says former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is down to four percent.

PPP’s earlier poll showed Santorum with a 15 percent lead over Romney, raising the prospect that the Michigan born candidate was in danger of losing his home state. It was one of two polls showing Santorum ahead.

Romney’s gain is coming as he spends more time in Michigan ahead of next Tuesday’s primary.

Says PPP: ”What we’re seeing in Michigan is a very different story from Florida where Romney surged by effectively destroying his opponent’s image. Here, Romney’s gains have more to do with building himself up.”

Santorum has double digit leads among Protestant voters, union members, evangelical Christians, Tea Party members, people describing themselves as “very conservative” and men.

Romney is leading with women, seniors, moderates, people who say they are “somewhat conservative” and Roman Catholics. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Michigan, Mitt Romney, Ohio, polls, Rick Santorum