“I just don’t think I would fit.”

And thus does the Ben Carson for Senate boomlet deflate, at least a little. Last night, Larry Kudlow asked the latest of ascending star of the conservative movement whether his impending retirement from medicine means that he’ll be available to make a run for office under the GOP banner.  Carson makes it clear that he’s [...]

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Keep your ammo dry

There seems to be a sudden and increasing buzz around the idea of Dr. Ben Carson running for a seat in the US Senate from Michigan next year, now that Carl Levin is exiting Stage Left. Unfortunately, some of the reasons being foisted – not just from the Left, but from the Right as well [...]

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Hmmmm.

I’m embarrassed that I forgot he was from Detroit when I was gaming out his paths to elected office. He works in Maryland, but Maryland’s a very blue state for a conservative-leaning novice pol who’d presumably run as a Republican. Virginia’s a bit more purple, but the only seat that’s open anytime soon is Mark [...]

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Second chances.

No, this isn’t a rerun of the Republican presidential primaries or the 2012 general election — and we’re not talking about Mitt.  Rather, it’s his brother Scott who may soon vie for the US Senate seat being vacated by retiring incumbent Carl Levin, and the son of the former governor may end up battling against [...]

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Vacancies.

Thirty-five years is a looooong time, but I bet he would have stuck around if he thought O’s master plan to get the House back in Democratic hands next year had a real shot of working. It’d be worth running again to him if he could spend the next two years pushing the liberal dream [...]

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"Snyder said he has a top candidate in mind."

Any volunteers for the second-most thankless job in America? Speaker of the House being first, of course. Snyder said the city has not been able to solve its financial crisis and that outside help is needed. Today “is a day to call all hands on deck… to say there’s been too much fighting, too much [...]

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"We believe there is a financial emergency in the city and that there is no plan in place to correct the situation."

Detroit, that historical magnate of the American auto industry, was once the country’s fourth most populous city — but the municipality has long since fallen off the fiscal straight-and-narrow, and here come the consequences. After decades of a fleeing population and tax base, incessant cash shortfalls, and $14 billion in long-term liabilities, the state has [...]

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"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

We’ve already written about the assault on an AFP tent that took place in Lansing two weeks ago over the right-to-work legislation that has now become law in Michigan, and the attack on my friend Steven Crowder.  After the video of the attack first appeared, Steven’s critics insisted that he had edited the videotape to [...]

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On the spot.

Disappointing but understandable. If even the NRA was sufficiently cowed by public reaction to Sandy Hook to keep silent until today, how much political leeway did the Republican governor of a blue state have to expand gun rights — in schools? Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a bill this afternoon that would have allowed gun owners [...]

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For the children

The great thing about Democracy – as I’m sure you’ll all agree – is that once the campaigns, debates and battles are over and the people have spoken, everyone can pick up the pieces and get on with productive work to advance the principles each side believes in. Clearly, such is the case in Michigan, [...]

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Pot calling the kettle sedentary.

From our friend Charlie Spiering at the Washington Examiner comes this clip of a former Michigan governor whose state suffered a net out migration and lost 630,000 jobs during her tenure asking a white multi-millionaire how to keep rich white guys from destroying the middle-class economies of the Midwest. Oh, and there’s the bit about [...]

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Privilege.

This week Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state, although to hear the uproar you would think something unprecedented was going on. There are more than enough commentators to debate the effects on Michigan’s economy and politics, but not too many ready to discuss what it will mean for Michigan unions internally. First, let’s not overestimate [...]

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Tone.

Not so many moons ago, President Obama urged us all to “make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.” He Who Heals advocated “a more civil and honest public discourse” in the wake of the January 2011 Tucson massacre. As usual, though, the White [...]

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Accountability and anachronisms.

Big Labor had a lot of high hopes when Barack Obama won in 2008.  They expected a raft of friendly legislation to force workplaces to organize, but instead the Obama administration spent their political capital on ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank rather than card-check and micro-union recognition.  The dreams of union nirvana have turned into nightmares of [...]

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Right to work.

Jimmy Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said Tuesday he expects Michigan unions and lawmakers to break out into “civil war” after the state legislature passed right-to-work bills that would weaken unions’ power. “This is just the first round of a battle that’s going to divide this state. We’re going to have a [...]

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Mob.

When I saw his tweet this morning, I wondered if he had oversold what happened. Nope. Not only does one guy start throwing roundhouses, another yanks him back hard by his jacket collar and seems ready to jump him before people around them step in. A third guy curses him out and looks like he’s [...]

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Civility.

Two clips via Lee Stranahan and Liberty News Network, respectively, of the union id unleashed after RTW passed the Michigan House this morning. One of the reliable perks when Republican legislatures try to rein in union power is watching the left’s “civility” sanctimony instantly dissolve into more traditional forms of direct action practiced by labor. [...]

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Earning their pay?

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.  I remember this when it was called Madison in early 2011.  Unions screaming that forcing workers to fund their coffers represented the ideal of freedom, while teachers called in sick but managed to look pretty healthy marching around a state capitol building while yelling at the top [...]

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Rabble rabble rabble.

Campaigning — er, I mean, speaking? — at a diesel engine factory in Michigan on Monday to yet again make the case for raising taxes on families making more than 250k/year, President Obama of course had to weigh in on the Michigan legislature moving forward to become the 24th right-to-work state. I’m sure his many [...]

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With help from President Obama? What the what?

Ed’s already noted that, with the likely passage of right-to-work legislation in union-heavy Michigan next week, we can pretty much expect that things are going to take a turn for the crazy really quickly — and it’s already starting. Reports the Washington Times: Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, who on Thursday called the votes to [...]

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Not over yet.

And the union activists descended on the capitol in Lansing, singing chants that may have been original when unions first made their appearance in Michigan.  The Associated Press reports on the anger last night as the Michigan legislature rapidly passed the bills that will stop the state from forcing people to pay union dues, except [...]

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The unions doth protest.

The Republican majority in the Michigan legislature is using their lame-duck to make moves on joining the ranks of the 23 already right-to-work states by passing measures that would put an end to mandatory dues in union shops in both the private and public sector. Through the first two years of his tenure, Republican Gov. [...]

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The obvious choice.

What Team Obama thinks will work in manufacturing-heavy Ohio will surely work just as well for the actual seat of the auto industry, the thinking likely goes. Their first ad there is a Michigan-tailored variation on their “Mitt Romney would’ve let the auto industry eat cake; see, he said so himself in 2008″ theme — [...]

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Romney gets edge among independents.

No wonder Team Obama started spending money in Detroit.  Democrats usually have no trouble holding Michigan in presidential races, and with Barack Obama bragging about the auto-industry bailout, most people figured that task would be easier than ever.  However, a new poll from the Detroit News shows Obama below 50% — and Mitt Romney within [...]

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Expanding the map.

Via Mark Halperin and Jim Geraghty, who points out that Detroit’s TV market doesn’t reach Ohio. This is all about defending Michigan, which would have seemed crazy a month ago but now, in a world where The One is under 50 percent in Oregon, makes lots of sense. This is, after all, a state capable [...]

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