Republicans try to keep things simple.  There's Ronald Reagan's famous 11th Commandment... don't speak ill of another Republican... and never is it usually more fiercely applied than around filing deadline when the Party lines up behind her incumbents.  Looking at the primary candidate listing now that the filing deadline's come and gone I'm guessing that if Bill Clinton has an 11th Commandment it's got more to do with what he likes on his Big Mac than electoral politics.

You already know all about the big general election races.  Jack Hoogendyk, all hyperbole aside, one of the most solid conservatives I've ever met, is going to battle, both guns blazing, against Carl Levin, one of the "most powerful" members of the Senate but a man somehow unable to keep his foot out of his mouth in foreign affairs, to stop NAFTA, CAFTA or end Michigan's donor status on the road-funding front.  

Tim Walberg is facing a challenge from Mark Schauer, the most liberal member of the Michigan Senate and a man who didn't just vote for billions of dollars in tax hikes, he spearheaded the effort to move them through the legislature while putting up a rock-solid pro-abortion voting record.  Should also probably note that Tim Walberg is NOT facing a challenge in the GOP primary... no small detail but one the lefties consistently overlook.

Joe Knollenberg is facing less of a challenge from twice as many candidates as he deals with Dr. Death and Gary Peters, the first Democrat to lose a race for Attorney General in a half century and soon-to-be-former professor at CMU.

But taking a gander at the State's unofficial Primary candidate listing reveals a host of intriguing, surprising and some down right strange match-ups confronting the Michigan Democrat Party.  

Read on...

Yeah, so much for that.

The Ivory Tower reports this morning that we're about a half-billion dollars in the red.  Again!

Some of the anticipated red ink results from new tax breaks to filmmakers who produce movies and commercials in Michigan. Those credits could reach nearly $120 million in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

In all, a weak economy and tax credits will leave $430 million less for Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2008-09 budget than previously expected, according to the fiscal agency.

And I can't help but wonder... if these new movie projects and spending programs were supposed to "create jobs"... because that's what you always hear from the lefty politicians in this State... every big new government program will "create jobs..." where are they and why isn't the extra tax revenue they're generating solving these budget problems?  Why another giant deficit?

Unquestionably this could bite the Democrats hard in November.  It seems like just yesterday they were shutting down state government for the first time in Michigan history and they took a PR beating for it.  October 1st is still a whole summer away but there are two things to keep in mind:

1)    Four months is a long time... for the deficit to potentially balloon further.
2)    October 1st is before November 4th.  

If revenues don't magically start rolling in over the summer the Dem House Majority is going to face one heck of an ugly choice.  Raise taxes again or admit they were wrong and cut spending, something they've spent the last 16 months swearing to high heaven would wind up killing seniors and kicking poor little Johnny out of school.  

It's an ugly bed they've made.  The worst part is it's all of the normal folks who have to lie in it.

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Apparently the woman received a note from Hizzoner right in the middle of the meeting and rushed off to meet with him behind closed doors, with folks believing she was told he might be resigning.  

No such luck.  Not sure what the note said but it wasn't "I quit."  Of course, we are talking about the Dem Mayor of Detroit... it could have said "JoAnn, do you like me?  Circle YES or NO."  I know a note like that would send me scurrying for the door, although I'd be headed far, far awaaaaay from the Mayor's private office.

Eventually the good Councilwoman returned to her seat, told folks that the Mayor wasn't going anywhere just yet and on they went with the rest of their day.  And while they apparently discussed the importance of flying kites things became a lot more tense back in the Executive Office in Lansing.

Because like it or not, Jennifer Granholm is officially all mixed up and in the middle of this now.  At least politically.

Read on...

Reports out of Mount Pleasant indicate the school's Human Resources Department has finalized a policy that would require professors to pick between Congress and campus.  

Under the new policy, which comes some three weeks after classes ended, Peters will be required to resign by June 5 -- 60 days before the Democratic primary on August 5 -- if he wants to challenge Congressman Joe Knollenberg.

This is a major win for CMU students and Michigan taxpayers.

It's just unfortunate that it took 10 months for administrators to realize Peters was making a mockery out of the school.

Just think of all the unfortunate incidents -- unconstitutional bans on videotaping Peters, illegal disciplinary hearings for students who questioned and most importantly, Peters' utter contempt for the taxpayers who fund the school -- that could have been avoided if Peters would have done the right thing months ago and picked between Congress and campus.

Instead, CMU allowed him to remain in the plum job - which pays a hefty $65,000-a-year salary to teach once a week for three hours.

Even when we get a little attention we're treated like red-headed step children. What gives?

By now you've probably heard the news that Barack Obama is finally planning to visit what the Associated Press refers to as the "politically neglected"states of Michigan and Florida.  He'll be here on Wednesday, May 14th.  In case you're not in front of a calendar, that's tomorrow.  

But if you were looking forward to catching a glimpse of the man who sends warm shivers up Chris Matthews inner-thigh don't get your hopes up just yet.  The Barackstar is going to touch those feet on Michigan soil but he doesn't want to see you.  As of this morning there are only a few things known about the candidate's newfound pioneering spirit.  He'll be making a stop in Grand Rapids, for what and where we don't know, and he'll be holding an invitation-only "town hall" somewhere in Macomb County.  Where, we don't know.

Invitation only?  The man makes his supporters wait 307 days between visits and when he finally comes back he's only letting the big-wigs have a glimpse?  A real man of the people, I guess.

Worth noting, by the way, that despite the man's faults, when John McCain visited the State last week (for the umpteenth time, by the way) he held an open town hall meeting and fielded questions from supporters and opponents alike.  Barack, not so much.  But he does have HOPE.  Hope you won't notice that he doesn't have time to bother with the likes of you, dear reader.  

Sadly, that's not the worst of it.  The big announcement came paired with the Senator's plans to head back to the Sunshine State as well.  We get two undisclosed stops at two undisclosed locations for VIPs only over the course of one day.  Florida?  He'll be visiting Tampa, Orlando, Miami and making stops in Palm Beach County over the course of three full days.  In a state he's visited as recently as last November.

Can you feel the love yet?  Yeah, me either.

As far as the AP's assertion that Michigan is "politically neglected?"  I humbly submit the words of one Barack Hussein Obama:

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