Posts filed under 'Michigan Decides 2006'
Dems party in Detroit
By Andrew Grossman, written on Nov. 8, 2006
The Michigan Democratic Party celebrated victory tonight at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. Supporters were in full party mood as incumbents Jennifer Granholm and Debbie Stabenow conquered their Republican challengers.
Family, friends, and supporters gathered to dance in celebration. Drinking started early as Democratic leaders announced that Jennifer Granholm was pulling far ahead in the polls. The party was confident enough to rescind their invitation to the press to visit Granholm’s room and watch her watch the results. After all, there was no anxious candidate to observe.
The press was relatively calm. The number of lights and cameras was overwhelming, but at the same time, nothing seemed to be happening. The first speaker finally went on a bit after 9:30, only to rally the crowd. Other speakers followed, including former Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard. He had news for supporters: “Happy days are here again.”
Around 10 p.m., Carl Levin confirmed Granholm’s victory while introducing Stabenow. As he made a poetic historical comparison to FDR, the crowd could not help but chant “Debbie, Debbie, Debbie!” Though he praised his Senate colleague, the most memorable thing he shouted was “The Democrats are coming!”
And they did. Numbers soon came in for the Senate and the House. Stabenow made references to the realistic possibility of Democrats taking power in both the Senate and the House. Her speech was obviously heartfelt; her face was beaming the entire time. Family joined her on stage with thanks and exaltation. Stabenow continued to emphasize the importance of family, especially the family of Michigan, in her campaign and in the state’s future. She left the stage as the avid and somewhat inebriated partygoers danced to her theme song, “We Are Family.”
The 40 minutes before Granholm’s appearance allowed the growing number to guests ample time to enjoy the party’s refreshments. The bar had never looked busier.
Lt. Gov. John Cherry introduced Granholm and her victory with a speech using a metaphor about building Michigan. The only thing the speech accomplished was to confirm that Cherry should never again try to build metaphors. The tipsy crowd talked through the whole thing.
Granholm finally came in, walking through a door five feet to my right, outfitted in a stunning red pants suit. She spent an extended amount of time in the crowd, greeting people and thanking supporters. As soon as she mounted the podium, cries of “Four more years!” echoed through the signage. The crowd loved her, and she responded with immense enthusiasm and energy.
Her first planned act in office is to push the $4,000 college merit scholarship through. She also spoke in depth on revitalizing Michigan’s jobs and cities to keep its young workers here. The evening ended with Granholm promoting Michigan as one and all of its residents as a team. She stood onstage alone and pledged a united future for the state.
-This report is by Daily Staff Reporter Katie Mitchell
Bouchard website down
By Andrew Grossman, written on Nov. 7, 2006
The race for Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat is beginning to look a bit like last spring’s campaign for Michigan Student Assembly.
Republican challenger Mike Bouchard’s website is down. Visitors are greeted with a message that reads: “The Mike for Michigan website is being attacked by a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack.” The site also lists two IP addresses as sources of the attack. They both appear to be located in Maryland.
In the spring MSA election, a Students 4 Michigan member shut down the website of the rival Michigan Progressive Party with a denial of service attack.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any members of the now-defunct S4M moved to Maryland after graduation.
Meanwhile, on MSNBC…
By Andrew Grossman, written on Sep. 17, 2006
Morgan Wilkins is the worst person in the world, according to Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Wilkins, a College Republican National Committee intern coordinating, described controversial political event ideas to the Michigan Daily that sparked a minor national outcry.
Dems call for intern’s ouster
By Andrew Grossman, written on Sep. 17, 2006
As the bells of Burton Tower tolled noon on Friday, College Democrats gathered on the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library and called on the College Republican National Committee to fire anyone connected with events described in the Michigan Daily last week.
The proposed events, which CRNC intern Morgan Wilkins described to the Daily, would have had participants shoot BB or paintball guns at cardboard cutouts of prominent Democrats or try and catch a volunteer wearing a shirt labeling the wearer an illegal immigrant.
“It is in the spirit of of equality, democracy and dignity that I demand that the CRNC remove the responsible individuals from their positions,” Michigan Federation of College Democrats chair Katherine Fontana said at the press conference.
Jamie Ruth, chair of the University’s College Democrats, also denounced the campaign ideas.
“These tactics are unwelcome on our campus or anywhere,” he said.
In an attempt to tie the ideas to the University’s College Republicans, event organizers showed photographs of Morgan Wilkins, the CRNC intern quoted by the Daily, recruiting students at the Republicans’s table at Festifall.
Interests: Fighting High Tuition Costs, Job Creation
By Andrew Grossman, written on Sep. 7, 2006
Governor Jennifer Granholm wants to be your Facebook.com friend. Her activities: “Governing the State of Michigan” and “fighting back against those that outsource Michigan jobs overseas,” according to her new profile.
Three days before Facebook added its controversial news feed to profiles, the site added another feature that drew much less attention–profiles for political candidates. Unlike previous profiles for politicians made by eager supporters (or detractors) Facebook has created profiles for each candidate and then turned control over to the politicians themselves. Other Facebook users can choose candidates and issues they support by clicking the “elections” tab while editing their profiles.
But if candidates really want to win over students through Facebook, they’re going to have to do better than Granholm. Her profile is humorless and dull, listing campaign talking points as her favorite quotes and the 21st Century Jobs Fund as one of her interests. Job creation is important, but whichever campaign staffer created Granholm’s profile is clearly missing the point of the site. It’s called social networking for a reason. No one wants to be friends with (or vote for) a bore. Maybe she should take a cue from my housemate, who’s interested in “gettin’ naked” and calls “the entire decade of 1980″ his favorite music.
Granholm’s Republican challenger in the upcoming November election, Dick DeVos, has not yet updated his new Facebook profile.