Follow Election 2012 with Michigan Radio

Update 3:23

Michigan Public Radio's Laura Weber covered today's announcement. She reports Hoekstra says he and Snyder became friends after running against each other in a “hard-fought” primary for Governor last year:

“Isn’t it great that two people can go through a campaign, they can go through a primary, and at the end of that process they actually like each other, they actually have respect for each other, because they went through it in a way that the people of Michigan respected.”

Hoekstra said he does not think Snyder’s sinking approval rating will have a negative impact on his campaign for Senate. In his remarks, the governor reciprocated Hoekstra's admiration. Snyder said the experience of gave him respect for Hoekstra:

"Being one of our senators is critically important to our state, so I felt it was appropriate to speak up on this. And it was so easy to speak up. This is a case where we have a compelling candidate.”

6:22 am

Governor Rick Snyder has scheduled a press conference today to endorse former Congressman Pete Hoekstra in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. Michigan Radio was first to report the endorsement earlier this month.

Snyder and Hoekstra first got to know each other last year as rivals for the Republican nomination for governor. Snyder won, but people close to the governor say he walked away from the campaign with respect for Hoekstra. They say Snyder praised Hoekstra as a results-oriented congressman with a history of rising above partisan interests to get things done.

The endorsement will put the governor at odds with other Michigan Republican power players. Billionaire Betsy DeVos, Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis, and ex-Senator Spencer Abraham – all former GOP party chairs – are backing school choice advocate Clark Durant.

Former Judge Randy Hekman, anti-gay rights activist Gary Glenn, and Roscomman businessman Peter Konetchy are also vying for the nod to face incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow next year.

The Tea Party Express will roll back into Michigan next week.     The conservative political activists hold rallies featuring fiery speeches and patriotic music.  Previous visits have focused on health care reform and government spending. This time the focus will be on Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. 

Levi Russell is a Tea Party Express spokesman.   He says the Tea Party group is hoping to rally local conservatives to work to defeat Stabenow’s re-election bid next year. 

A new bill introduced in the state Senate would let a three-member panel decide when to hold Michigan's Republican presidential primary in 2012. The measure would, as the Associated Press reports,"let a panel appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville and House Speaker Jase Bolger pick between February 28 and March 6," to hold the primary.

Under current state law, the primary is scheduled for February 28 but, the Republican National Committee has said it doesn't want states to hold their primaries that early. In fact, the RNC has said that states that choose to hold early primaries could lose half of their delegates at the party's nominating convention.

So, why all the fuss about an early date? Politico explains:

Both national parties are struggling to keep the national nominating schedule from imploding as state after state tries to move earlier than the next to have more say in picking the presidential nominee. Typically, the later the primary the less influence a state has in the nomination.

Under rules set by both national parties, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are the only states allowed to hold primaries or caucuses in February and no other state can hold a nominating election prior to March 6, which is likely to be a "Super Tuesday" with multiple contests.

Earlier this month, Laura Weber reported that some Republican leaders in the state wanted to hold an early primary, despite the consequences:

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Robert Schostak, says he is not too concerned with being penalized for the decision, "The penalties are somewhat unclear. They haven’t been determined by the committee in finality. But if we would be penalized by losing delegates and we were trading that for relevancy, my sense is that the Legislature and the state committee that would be ultimately deciding on this are okay with it," Schostak said.

One thing is known about the 2012 GOP primary in the state: it'll be a 'closed' primary. From the AP:

The latest state poll of likely voters has mixed news for one Republican presidential contender with Michigan roots and downright bad news for another.  

U.S. Rep. John Conyers is remaining mum on whether he'll run for re-election in the redrawn 13th District now that fellow Democratic incumbent Hansen Clarke says he'll run in Conyers' new district.

The two congressmen currently represent districts made up mostly of Detroit. Both were drastically redrawn by Republicans to add minority voters outside Detroit to make up for the city's shrinking population.

Democrats have said the new districts are examples of gerrymandering and are threatening to sue in federal court.

But Clarke spokeswoman Kim Bowman said Monday that Clarke had decided to switch districts rather than waiting. She says the 14th District includes more of the voters Clarke now represents.

Conyers' office is declining comment on whether the 82-year-old will swap districts with the 54-year-old Clarke.

There’s a game of musical chairs going on right now to determine which congressman will end up without a job a year from January. Yesterday, the likely outcome became a little more clear.

First of all, a little background: Michigan is losing a seat in congress because of national population shifts. The legislature redrew the boundary lines, and since Republicans control everything in Lansing, they made sure it would be a Democrat who lost out.

The only question was, which one? When the proposed new districts were revealed, it seemed at first that Oakland County’s Gary Peters would be the certain loser. The area in which he lives and fellow Democrat Sander Levin lives wound up in the same district.

The two men could run against each other in next August’s primary, of course, but on paper, Peters wouldn’t stand a chance.

Most of the new district is territory Levin has been representing, so he has home field advantage. Sandy Levin is also a sort of an icon. He was first elected to the state senate before Peters was six years old. He’s completing thirty years in Congress.

The latest Republican candidate to challenge U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow says it’s time for regular citizens – like him -- to get into politics.  Clark Durant says he’s running for office because he’s tired of government getting in the way of citizens trying to build their dreams.

"I tremble for my country," Durant says. "Our government is overspending, has grown too fast and taxes too much. Ordinary people are having a hard time putting bread on the table and making ends meet, and our government is extravagant.”

Durant says there’s a danger of inflation unless the U.S. stops expanding its money supply.

The Grosse Pointe charter school executive has the endorsement of several influential Michigan Republican party officials. However, Gov. Snyder has thrown his support to former Cong. Pete Hoekstra.

U.S. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter from Michigan is in New Hampshire this weekend.

He’s one of several Republican presidential candidates campaigning in the state that traditionally holds one of the nation’s first primaries.

McCotter finished at the bottom of last weekend’s Iowa straw poll, getting just 35 votes out of more than 16,000.

But he says Iowa was just an introduction, and he’s not discouraged.

“We’ve had many people that have been running much longer, some on their second time, and they’ve spent millions of dollars, and they’re actually declining in the polls," McCotter says. "In fact, we’ve already seen one drop out. So after a month of not spending a million dollars, I think there’s room to grow.”

McCotter says he’ll focus on how to restructure the economy, and on China, which he calls a strategic threat to U.S. prosperity.

Another candidate has entered the race to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) - Clark Durant, a charter school executive in Detroit.

This from Saul Anuzis' blog site (Anuzis is the chairman of the Michigan Republic Party):

Today, Clark Durant filed the necessary paperwork to begin organizing a campaign for Michigan’s United States Senate seat.

Durant filed Articles of Incorporation and a Statement of Candidacy for “The American Way—Durant 2012.” The formal announcement is expected after Labor Day.

Durant's candidacy is backed by some prominent Republicans in the state.

Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Betsy Devos, former chairwoman of the MRP, and former Republican Senator Spence Abraham all have thrown their support behind Durant.

The Associate Press reports that Durant's candidacy will increase the chances for a hard fought Republican primary against presumptive front runner former Congressman Pete Hoekstra.

Here's a little more background on Durant from the AP:

The Grosse Pointe resident is president of the New Common School Foundation in Detroit and helped found Cornerstone Schools. He last ran for U.S. Senate in 1990, narrowly losing the GOP primary.

The field of Republican Senate candidates also includes former Kent County Probate Judge Randy Hekman, Roscommon businessman Peter Konetchy and Midland resident Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

Republican leaders in the state Senate say they will push for a closed presidential primary to take place in Michigan on February 28. That’s one week earlier than the National Republican Party rules allow and penalties could include having the state's convention delegates stripped. In today's "The Week in State Politics" Michigan Radio's Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry takes a look at what a February 28 GOP primary would mean for the state and the presidential primary candidates.

Republican leaders in the state Senate say they will push for a February 28th closed presidential primary date.

That’s one week earlier than the National Republican Party rules allow. National GOP rules state that only four states are allowed to hold primaries before Super Tuesday in March without penalty.

Michigan is not one of those states. Penalties could include having convention delegates stripped.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville says they plan to stick with a primary on February 28th.

“Michigan is going to be really relevant in the decision making process because of this date, but I don’t think we’re doing anything outlandish that would cause the national committee to be upset with us.”

The Michigan Republican Party has not specified a desired primary date. The party is leaving the primary date decision up to lawmakers.

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Robert Schostak, says he is not too concerned with being penalized for the decision:

“The penalties are somewhat unclear. They haven’t been determined by the committee in finality. But if we would be penalized by losing delegates and we were trading that for relevancy, my sense is that the Legislature and the state committee that would be ultimately deciding on this are okay with it.”

Both the Republican and Democratic parties in Michigan were penalized in 2008 for holding an early primary. The parties were stripped of half their convention delegates.

The primary election is estimated to cost $10 million. Taxpayers would foot the bill.

The Michigan Republican Party State Central Committee has decided the state GOP will use a closed presidential primary next year.

That means voters will have to declare a party preference to participate. If Michigan sticks with a February 28 election date, the state GOP could lose half its delegates to the national nominating convention for meeting earlier than party rules allow.

Michigan GOP leaders say the early influence is worth the risk. Michigan Democrats plan to hold closed caucuses May 5, and will likely withdraw from the primary election ballot.

Historically, Republicans haven’t fared particularly well in Michigan Senate races. They’ve lost 10 out of 11 races in the last 40 years.

To give us a historical perspective we turn to Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry. He tells us why Michigan Republicans have had a tough time winning Senate races.

Governor Rick Snyder will endorse former West Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra as the GOP's nominee against Debbie Stabenow in the 2012 U.S. Senate race, according to Rick Pluta. A date for the official announcement is unknown.

The back-story:

Yesterday, three high-profile Republicans endorsed a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Senate race. Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis (who, at one point earlier this year, was thought to maybe want to throw his hat into the Senatorial race himself), former U.S. Senator Spence Abraham (who lost his Senate seat to Senator Stabenow in 2000), and ex-Michigan Republican Chairwomen Betsy DeVos announced that they will back Clark Durant in the GOP race against Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow. Durant, however, has not yet entered the race.

I called Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio's Lansing Bureau Chief, to get a little bit more information about the endorsement. We got to talking about what the endorsement will mean for the perceived front-runner in the race, former Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra. Pluta let me know that Governor Snyder intends to endorse Hoekstra. Interestingly enough, Governor Snyder ran against Hoesktra in the GOP gubernatorial primary in 2010.

For all of you politicos, you can take a listen to my conversation with Pluta about yesterday's endorsement and Governor Snyder's decision to back Hoekstra below:

Well, this changes things. Since former West Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra announced he would run for the Republican nomination to try and unseat Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2012, he was considered by many to be the GOP race’s frontrunner.

But, yesterday, three high-profile Republicans endorsed a candidate who isn’t really even a candidate yet. Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis (who, at one point earlier this year, was thought to maybe want to throw his hat into the Senatorial race himself), former U.S. Senator Spence Abraham (who lost his Senate seat to Senator Stabenow in 2000), and ex-Michigan Republican Chairwomen Betsy DeVos have announced that they will back Clark Durant in the GOP race.

Durant, however, has not yet entered the race. From the Associated Press:

Durant is a charter school executive. He tells The Associated Press he hasn't yet declared his candidacy, but the endorsement "makes it so much easier to make that decision." Durant lost a Senate primary bid in 1990.

Anuzis, Abraham, and DeVos announced their support for Durant in an open-letter posted on Anuzis' website. An excerpt: