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.
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network has released a new study on the influence of money in last week’s election for candidates in this state. Unsurprisingly, it found that candidates with more money to spend were more likely to win elections. And in this election, it was the Democrats holding the fundraising advantage in most cases.
The Democratic caucus’s financial advantage was critical in both of Michigan’s hot congressional races in 2008.
Joe Knollenberg raised more than $3 million in his campaign fund but the NRCC left him to his own resources. Gary Peters raised more than $2 million for his successful challenge and the DCCC spent over $1.6 million supporting Peters, mainly for broadcast advertising.
Mark Schauer’s successful campaign raised more than incumbent Tim Walberg – $2.0 million to $1.7 million – and the DCCC outspent the NRCC – $1.7 million to $1.4 million. Both campaigns were able to achieve saturation television advertising.
Until the very last days of the campaign, Walberg was the number one recipient of the NRCC’s support nationally. In the end, he finished second on the NRCC support list and he was one of only four Republican House candidates in the country who got more than $1 million in help. Thirty-five Democrats, including Schauer and Peters, received over $1 million in support, and 15 of those candidates got $1.9 million or more.
The fundraising edge for Democrats began, of course, with the Obama campaign, which shattered previous records for contributions. Obama raised $637 million in individual contributions, more than all Republican presidential contenders combined this year and more than all presidential candidates combined in 2004.
More than $300 million of that was in small contributions of less than $200. In fact, the report notes, Obama raised 50% more in small contributions than John McCain raised in all contributions and 50% more than all presidential candidates had in small contributions combined in 2000.
Interestingly, there was one race where money didn’t seem to matter, the race between Cliff Taylor and Diane Hathaway for the Supreme Court. Taylor had a more than 3-to-1 advantage in fundraising in addition to massive spending on issues ads by the Michigan Republican Party and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, yet Hathaway won easily.
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