Granholm surges to solid lead in Michigan governor's race...

[marmar]

News bulletin
POLL: Granholm surges to solid lead
DeVos needs huge effort to win election, pollster says

October 14, 2006

Email this Print this BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF

FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
Gaining strength among women and metro Detroit voters, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has opened an 8-point lead on Republican challenger Dick DeVos, according to The Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll.

The poll conducted last week -- a month from the Nov. 7 election -- shows Granholm with a 49% to 41% lead among likely voters. A Free Press-Local 4 poll in late August showed Granholm had taken a 2-point lead, statistically a dead heat, after trailing earlier in the campaign.

The new poll shows the governor has solidified her support more than DeVos. Among those who say they've made up their minds, Granholm holds a nearly 20-point edge.

Granholm's lead is not insurmountable, but J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., the Des Moines, Iowa, firm that conducted the poll, said "it would take a huge effort for DeVos to pull it out."

Selzer said an equal number of voters disapprove as approve of Granholm's performance as governor -- 46% each.

"She's under 50%, which isn't good," Selzer said. "Fifty percent say Jennifer Granholm is a disappointment, and that includes a fair amount of her supporters."

But Granholm's lead persists even though two-thirds of those polled say they believe Michigan is headed in the wrong direction and half say she has been a disappointment as governor.

DeVos sharpened his attacks last week on Granholm's record both in his public appearances and in his TV ads.

The complete story is at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061014/NEWS99/310140005

[boobooday]

1. So Michigan isn't going to become the Amway state?

I really don't know her record, but I've been impressed with Granholm when I've heard her speak.

[I Have A Dream]

2. I also have been impressed. n/t

[marmar]

3. Nope...

People are upset with the sluggish economy, but they're laying most of the blame on Bush, not the governor. DeVos can keep his creepy, fundie, outsource-to-China loving paws off our blue state.

[amandabeech]

4. Many people hold the governor responsible for job creation.

In Michigan's case, and Michigan is still my home state, I think that folks should hold the idiots running the auto companies responsible.

Unfortunately, only a majority of auto company shareholders can do that, not a majority of Michigan's voters.

I'd like a ballot initiative on whether the current crop of economists and absolute free traders should be fired from businesses, universities and think tanks for coming up with an economic theory that hurts so many people and helps so few.

Wouldn't it be great to vote for or against ALL the elites whose decisions affect the lives of so many, and not just politicians.

I hope that DeVos runs back to his hidey hole in the Salt Lake City of the Midwest when the votes are counted.

[vanboggie]

6. Keywords: When the votes are counted

From a staunch Granholm supporter smack in the middle of the Salt Lake City of the Midwest, we must be prepared for the Rove-Betsy-Lil Dick-Terri Land bag of dirty tricks. Be ever watchful my friends - watch, document, and fight if necessary. Don't let it escalate or these registered domains may be used one day:
devosforsenate.com devosforpresident.com

We already have the worthless son of a ... in the white house. We don't another one in Michigan, nor in the future of what's left of the USA.

[amandabeech]

8. I recall some sleazey shenanigans in the primaries a few years

ago in Muskegon or Kent counties. Didn't it have to do with phantom candidates? It was Betsey DeVos all the way.

I grew up north of Muskegon, and still return frequently.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. This is part of a large and growing pattern ...... widening Dem leads ....

.... from coast to coast. Formerly secure Republic seat after formerly secure Republic seat are in the competitive column and 'leans Dem' seats are now close to sure bets.

For the Republics, there's a bad moon a-risin'.

[1932]

7. Michigan is such an interesting situation: Republican policies for

decades have made Michigan the state that is hurt the worst by globalization and by the fact the US no longer makes value-added products anymore (which is a very bad thing). Granholm has a huge job to do to restructure the economy.

But Republicans want to control the state again on the grounds that she could fix in four years all the damage they've done for years.

It's tricy territory for her campaign to negotiate, but she's doing it well and her campaign should be a lesson for democrats confronted with the same problem all over the country.

[TheFarseer]

9. I was impressed by something Granholm said

at one of the debates (paraphrasing) "Mr. DeVos represents the old economic strategies of tax cutting and free trade that have failed Michigan. I represent a new way of thinking, that we need a highly educated workforce, more jobs training programs and an investment in new technologies so we can have a leg up on getting the jobs of tomorrow to come to Michigan." She said it better than I can.