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Welcome to Michigan Radio’s coverage page for the 2012 Election.If you’re looking for more information to help with your decisions, you can read our collection of stories about key races featured below.You can also check out our Guide to the Ballot Proposals.

Mitt Romney pulls into Michigan, working to polish bailout stance

The Romney bus pulls into Michigan.
Rick Pluta
/
MPRN
The Romney bus pulls into Michigan.

Mitt Romney's bus pulled into Michigan today as he prepares to give a policy speech this afternoon at Lansing Community College.

The fact that Romney is here is a sign that the Romney camp feels Michigan is a battleground state, but as MPRN's Rick Pluta points out, a "Republican nominee has not won Michigan in 24 years."

Romney is banking on his ties to the state. He was born in Michigan and his father, George Romney, served as governor in the 1960s.

Now to solve a nagging problem for Romney in Michigan.

In 2008, Romney wrote a New York Times op-ed piece that carried the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

Yesterday in a speech in Ohio, Romney took credit for saving the auto industry.

Romney has continually said that President Obama ended up taking his advice on how to manage the ailing U.S. auto industry.

But the Associated Press reports that Romney took it a step further in yesterday's speech "by saying he deserves credit for its ultimate turnaround."

The course Romney advocated differed greatly from the one that was ultimately taken. GM and Chrysler went into bankruptcy on the strength of a massive bailout that Romney opposed. Neither Republican President George W. Bush nor Democratic President Barack Obama believed the automakers would have survived without that backup from taxpayers. Romney opposed taxpayer help.

The Detroit Free Press reports that "the bailout of the Detroit-based automobile industry is expected to be a dominant issue today."

Romney got "two Pinocchio's" in a Washington Post "The Fact Checker" piece when they looked at whether he's been consistent in his stance on the auto bailout.

Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has endorsed Romney. Snyder is expected to introduce him today at Lansing Community College.

We'll have more on Romney's speech later today.

Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.
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