I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Gubernatorial candidate Rick “tough nerd” Snyder is the absolute leader when it comes to spending on television advertising, according to a recent report by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
By analyzing television station records of campaign ad buys though May 31, MCFN has determined that Snyder has spent $1,336,893. Mike Cox has spent $527,737, Mike Bouchard $49.091, and Pete Hoekstra just $5,470. So far only the Republicans have bought television ads.
The Snyder campaign’s spending has come in two phases: It spent $958,386 in February and March for a series of introductory spots that ran statewide. It came back to life in May, most heavily in the Grand Rapids – Kalamazoo market. Its advertising in the Detroit market has been limited to cable since the introductory period. Its $385,000 broadcast blitz in February and March is the only broadcast advertising in the state’s primary television market so far this year. Overall, Snyder has spent $136,726 (10.2 percent of his total) for cable.
The Cox campaign, which has focused on attacks directed against Hoekstra, has spent most heavily in west Michigan. Only $18,982 of the Cox TV spending (3.6 percent) has been on cable.
The Bouchard campaign has placed its television advertising exclusively on cable thus far. Sixty percent of its spending total played in the Detroit market.
Ninety percent of Hoekstra’s very modest spending total has played in his west Michigan home market. Hoekstra’s campaign has placed $3,500 (64 percent) of its total on cable.
So far Republican spending falls far short of the levels seen in the 2006 race. According to MCFN by Memorial Day during the last election Republican candidate Dick DeVos had already spent $3.2 on television ads.
According to a recent poll by Public Policy Polling, Snyder is now the leading Republican candidate for governor and Hoekstra is second. But that poll may be an outlier. A more recent EPIC/MRA tracking poll was more in line with previous surveys and found Hoekstra still with a substantial lead.
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