Game Change Portrayal of Palin Foreshadows Her Later Behavior

Game Change, the HBO film about 2008 presidential election campaign, won't change many minds about the little known Alaskan governor picked by John McCain to be his running mate.

Many people made up their minds a long time ago that Sarah Palin was woefully unprepared to become president. And in the ensuing three and a half years, a lot more have soured on her.

There certainly were some moments in the film when Palin was portrayed sympathetically -- missing her baby, talking to her deployed son as he left on a mission, dealing with a pregnant teen daughter.

But the context of what Palin has done in the time since the campaign supports the overall portrait of her that emerges in the film -- someone with great political skills but who is unwilling to do the hard work necessary to be the leader of a government, someone who seems to connect with average voters but who is ultimately obsessed with herself. The film is sort of a prequel to Palin's later actions.

Seeing Palin portrayed on the screen refusing to prep for her media interviews or debate brought to mind her decision to step down as governor of Alaska after the campaign was over.

Listening to her obsess about her poll numbers in Alaska during the midst of the national campaign and trying to hog the limelight by delivering her own concession speech on election night was a reminder of her ham-handed response to the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Palin made herself out as the victim, calling it a "blood libel" that people suggested Palin's use of a gun site to designate Giffords' district as a high priority for Republicans contributed to a climate of violent political rhetoric.

In short, Palin's actions after the campaign confirmed many of her flaws showcased in the film. Sure, McCain aide Steve Schmidt and others take a lot of the blame for the decision to pick Palin and the way she was vetted for the job, but the way Palin reacted after joining the ticket is all her own doing.

It could have been a brilliant pick, but at the end of the day Palin could not make it work.

One More Sign of Democratic Leanings in Livingston

As we look back at 2008 and political events in Livingston County, people usually focus on how well President-elect Barack Obama did in our county -- almost 43 percent of the vote compared to John Kerry's 36 percent four years earlier.

There were other important signs of an increaasingly moderate lean in this part of Michigan -- Proposals 1 and 2, dealing with medical marijuana and embryonic stem cell research -- both won the county.

The Livingston Press and Argus wraps up these events as part of its 2008 look-back at political highlights in a storyfor editions of Sunday (January 4, 2009).

The piece does a good job of covering the year's political scene, but one sign of Livingston County's increasing moderation that I would add is this:

Livingston County voted for Diane Hathaway for Michigan Supreme Court and against Republican Cliff Taylor.

Michigan Supreme Court races are supposed to be non-partisan, but Taylor was an extremely partisan Republican, the spouse of former Gov. John Engler's legal counsel and a long-time political operative. Under his reign, the Michigan high court skewed far to the right, issuing rulings that not only trampled on the rights of average citizens but bordered on the cruel.

Plus, he was so contemptuous of the rights of litigants that he fell asleep during the arguments of a case involving a fire that killed six children.

Livingston County said "No!" to another term for Cliff Taylor and voted for Hathaway, who had been nominated by the Michigan Democratic Party.

Livingston County Democrats worked hard to persuade voters that Taylor had to go. The party had three events related to the race, including a visit by Hathaway herself at a "Flip the Ballot" barbeque. We talked to everyone who came into our office about the need to replace Taylor. We handed out her signs and carried her literature door-to-door.

So by the time the "sleeping judge" ads rolled around, people in Livingston County were already well-educated about the need to get rid of Taylor.

It's one of the things Livingston Dems are proudest of from the 2008 election cycle.

Why Would Anybody Pick Saul for RNC Chair?

Saul Anuzis, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, is seeking to become head of the Republican National Committee.

Apparently he is presenting himself as an alternative to Southern candidates, using the argument that the Republican Party should expand its appeal outside of the South.

I don't know what Anuzis' chances are since a whole bunch of people are interested in that job. But it seems to me, a candidate's track record should matter.

So in case the folks at the RNC haven't done their research yet, here's what Saul accomplished in the last election in Michigan:

--He lost Michigan (for a record-breaking fifth straight time) in the presidential race by 16 percentage points.

--He lost a U.S. Senate race by 29 percentage points.

--He lost two incumbent Republican members of Congress and thus lost control of the congressional delegation, which is now Democratic by an 8-7 margin.

--He lost nine Michigan House seats, leaving his party in a 67-43 minority position come January.

--He lost all eight education board races, meaning Democrats are in control of the U of M, MSU, and State Board of Education by a 6-2 margin, and the Wayne State Board by 7-1.

--He lost the Michigan Supreme Court race by 10 points, making it the first time an incumbent justice had lost in 24 years and the first time ever that an incumbent chief justice was defeated.

--He lost no seats in the Michigan State Senate, only because nobody in that chamber was up for re-election this year.

So he certainly would be my choice. But gosh, we'll miss him here in Michigan.

Feeling Things Slip Away, Are They?

When you're part of a team, some people play offense, some people play defense.

President-elect Barack Obama did not carry Livingston County, but his supporters put up one heck of a defensive stand. Obama's 42.5 percent showing was far better than John Kerry's 36 percent from 2004.

But don't take my word for it. Look at what someone at Republican Michigander is saying:

"Countywide, I consider a 55.79% win a big loss. Period. Same thing I said about the 2006% election. In order for a Republican to win statewide, 64-65% is minimum. Anything less at the top of the ticket is most likely a loss."

In other words, in order for Republicans to win statewide at the top of the ticket, they need to get at least 64 percent of the total vote in Livingston County.

That's why we Democrats keep working so hard here in Livingston County. The votes for statewide victory can come from Livingston County as well as from Wayne or elsewhere.

Dem Straight-Ticket Voting On the Rise in Livingston

More people in the Nov. 4 election took to heart the motto, "Make It Emphatic, Vote Straight Democratic," according to election results.

Straight ticket voting by Democrats went up, while straight ticket voting by Republicans went down.

Overall, 38,729 people cast straight-ticket ballots, down from 40,111 in 2004, according to official returns. In percentage terms, straight-ticket voting made up 38.61 percent of the ballots this election, down from 42.67 percent in 2004.

All of the decline was due to a 12.53 percent drop in Republicans splitting their tickets or just not showing up at all. Republican voters choosing to vote for every candidate in their party dropped by 3,457, to 24,124. Meanwhile, Democrats saw a 14.58 percent jump in straight-ticket voting. Some 14,067 people cast straight-Democratic ballots, up 1,790 from 2004.

In percentage terms, straight Democratic ballots went up to 14.02 percent of the total votes, from 13.06 in 2004, while GOP ballots went down to 24.05 percent of the total ballots cast, from 29.34 percent.

Democrats made up more than one-third of the straight-ticket voters -- 36.32 percent this election, compared with 30.6 percent four years ago.

That's a trend we like to see.

Perils of Mixing School Board, National Elections

A move that was supposed to save money may have ended up costing some Livingston County residents the right to vote in their local school board elections.

Democratic poll challengers working in absentee ballot counting boards in at least one township report that some absentee voters were mailed ballots containing the wrong school board race. In order for the ballots to be counted on the tabulator for the proper school district, the votes had to be manually transferred to new ballots.

Of course, the poll inspectors doing the duplication had no way of knowing how the voters might have voted in the proper school district election. So those contests had to be left blank. Tough luck.

Who knows if this spread beyond one township or beyond Livingston County. The Michigan Secretary of State's office might well know.

This mix-up is a result of a Michigan law that allowed school districts to move their elections from May to November. The move is ostensibly to save money but a Republican desire to turn non-partisan contests into ideological battles probably was part of the motivation.

As a result, the precious right to vote, purchased with the sacrifices of our military as well as civilian activists, is a little more disposable.

A Million Hits--But Still Something Is Missing

Congratulations to the Livingston Press and Argus for its thriving website, as noted in Maria Stuart's piece for Sunday (Nov. 16, 2008).

The column notes:

"For the first two weeks of November, we're closing in on almost 600,000 hits, surely helped a bit by the election. Even so, we're regularly averaging well over a million hits a month.

"More than a million hits!

"Never, in a million years, did I dream that livingstondaily.com would be averaging more than a million hits a month."

Sadly, the news media as a whole has been slow to figure out the whole internet-thing, but it's good to see that locally the media is now trying to catch up.

Stuart goes on to note that the Press and Argus regularly posts videos of events, including the two candidate debates it sponsored this election year.

Unfortunately, that's not the whole story. For the last debate, the newspaper put up video of only some of the candidates in its Oct. 30 debate.

Video of Democrat Donna Anderson's debate with Bill Rogers in the 66th House District and of Democrat Bob Alexander's debate with Mike Rogers never made it to the site that I could find.

Maybe the newspaper wasn't too proud of the way its two endorsed candidates performed against their Democratic opponents.

Is Oakland County the New Macomb?

During the Republican National Convention, which now seems like years ago, Republican Rep. Candace Miller from Macomb County was part of a cable-news panel discussing how well the McCain-Palin ticket would do in Michigan.

Yeah, that was before everyone knew about the $150,000 shopping spree, before the Katie Couric interview, before all the details of Trooper-Gate, before McCain pulled out of Michigan, before the campaign suspension, and before all the other foolishness that characterized the McCain-Palin ticket. But still, Miller said McCain-Palin would carry Macomb County by seven or eight points.

Well, like so many other Republican promises, that didn't happen.

In fact, pollster Stanley Greenberg, who built his career on watching the so-called Reagan Democrats of Macomb County, has lost interest in the phenomenon.

In an op-ed in The New York Times, Greenberg says goodbye to the Reagan Democrats of Macomb County. Says Greenberg:

"I conducted a survey of 750 Macomb County residents who voted Tuesday, and their responses put their votes in context. Before the Democratic convention, barely 40 percent of Macomb County voters were 'comfortable' with the idea of Mr. Obama as president, far below the number who were comfortable with a nameless Democrat. But on Election Day, nearly 60 percent said they were 'comfortable' with Mr. Obama. About the same number said Mr. Obama 'shares your values' and 'has what it takes to be president.'

"Given Macomb’s history, this story helps illustrate America’s evolving relationship with race. These voters, like voters elsewhere, watched Mr. Obama intently and became confident he would work for all Americans and be the steady leader the times required."

Greenberg goes on to say that Oakland County next door is now more interesting because it too went big for Obama, yet its residents were more open to ideas like gay marriage and affirmative action.

"On Tuesday, Oakland County voters gave Mr. Obama a 57 percent to 42 percent victory over John McCain — those 15 points translated into an astonishing 96,000-vote margin. That helped form one of the most important new national changes in the electorate: Mr. Obama built up striking dominance in the country’s growing, more diverse and well-educated suburbs," Greenberg wrote.

Could it be the beginning of a new-style Democratic coalition?

Livingston County Follows Trend of Fast-Growing Counties

In the exurbs, political alignments may be changing, and Livingston County is not immune to the change.

Politico.com reported Monday (Nov. 10, 2008) that Barack Obama did much better in the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties than did John Kerry in 2004. Obama carried 15 of the counties and cut into George Bush's margin in many of the others.

Livingston County has been one of Michigan's fastest-growing counties, even though it may not make the top 100 nationally. But Obama's strong showing here indicates that the point of Politico's piece probably extends well beyond the top 100 fastest growing counties.

Sign of the Times

Less than 12 hours after Barack Obama squashed John McCain in the electoral college, I was on my way to campus in Ann Arbor along the back roads of Livingston County.

Winding along Winans Lake Road, I passed the big, white Obama-Biden sign that came from the Livingston County Democratic Party office, and headed up the hill to where the speed limit rises to 45 miles per hour.

And there it was. The McCain-Palin sign. Stuffed in a garbage can, waiting to be picked up along with the chicken bones and carry-out pizza boxes, as if its owner couldn't wait to be rid of it.

It made me smile.

Suffering and Politics

Livingston County is known for its conservatism.

Democrats who run for township clerk are called baby-killers because they support a woman's right to choose whether to continue or end a difficult pregnancy, regardless of the fact that township clerks have nothing to do with the abortion issue.

Conservative groups tried to use the same baby-killing rhetoric against Proposal 2, the measure allowing embryonic stem cell research to go forward in Michigan. Churches used all sorts of scare tactics to try to link the search for cures for debilitating illnesses to killing babies.

It didn't work across Michigan and it didn't work in Livingston County. Proposal 2 carried even in Livingston County.

Why? Perhaps it has to do with suffering. Lots of people find it easy to condemn a woman who feels she has no choice but to end a pregnancy. They can't put themselves in her place or understand that a late-term abortion may be absolutely necessary to save her life. Even John McCain ridiculed the notion that a woman's "health" might be impaired by a pregnancy.

But it's much easier to put yourself in the place of someone with diabetes or Parkinson's disease. A man who will condemn a woman for getting an abortion never has to worry about getting pregnant. But he might get Parkinson's disease. And he sure doesn't want to suffer from it. All of a sudden, the fate of those microscopic cells seems unimportant next to his own potential suffering.

Same thing with Proposal 1, medical marijuana. Not everybody can get pregnant but anybody can get cancer. Everybody knows someone who has had cancer and seen them suffer the ravages of chemotherapy. Much easier to put yourself into the shoes of a cancer sufferer than a woman who was raped and gotten pregnant. That's unimaginable. But cancer is another thing entirely. It strikes too close to home.

Let's face it. Suffering is a hard sell in the 21st century.

Yes We Did!

Call me superstitious, but Livingston County Democrats had buttons printed in advance of Tuesday's election that said, "Yes We Did!"

But I wouldn't let anybody bring them out until after the networks called the race for Barack Obama.

They were snapped up in 30 seconds.

A more detailed analysis will come later, but our goal in Livingston County was to increase the vote for the Democratic candidate for president by 10 percent over what John Kerry earned in 2004. In fact, we increased it by 24.5 percent.

Thanks to the efforts of volunteers who worked thousands of hours over the last few months and the decision of the Obama campaign to put a field organizer in Livingston County, Obama tallied 8,355 more votes than Kerry did.

We came very close on our other goal -- carrying the county for Carl Levin. Levin's 45,680 votes were just 546 shy of the Republican's 46,226.

A personal goal was to defeat Cliff Taylor. And Livingston County certainly helped with that.

Diane Hathaway carried Livingston County -- 33,011 to 31,750. For months, I have made it a point to mention the race to anyone who came into our office. And the Obama volunteers carried thousands of pieces of literature about Hathaway to the doors of Democratic supporters. We held three events in the last year in our county publicizing the horrible effects of Cliff Taylor's rulings on Michigan working families. Hathaway's victory is one of the most important events from Tuesday night for average people in Michigan.

But most amazing to me about Tuesday night was the way people at our election night party didn't really want the campaign to end. Many made it a point to say that they want to stay involved.

We can't let this feeling slip away. And we won't.

Yes We Did and Yes We Will!

Failure of Imagination

It was one of those questions designed to catch politicans off guard, to make them think on their feet, and say something spontaneous, rather than an answer they had rehearsed.

It came up during the Livingston Press and Argus debate on Thursday (Oct. 30, 2008) featuring candidates for 8th District Congress, the 66th and 47th House seats, and district judge.

It asked the candidates to name the Democratic and Republican politicians they most admire.

The Democratic candidates had a variety of answers -- FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Milliken, Abraham Lincoln, L. Brooks Patterson, Lana Pollock.

Two of the Republican candidates and the Libertarian (actually a Republican) favored one name -- Ronald Reagan. None of them mentioned either George Bush, or even Michigan's own Gerald Ford. Or Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt. (Mike Rogers named his mother, but his brother Bill didn't.)

Just Ronald Reagan. And mainly for his "ability to communicate."

Talk about lock-step thinking. Maybe that's why the party is where it is this year. It's stuck in a 1980s way of thinking while the nation has moved on.

Granholm Plugs Livingston's 'Wall-to-Wall' Democrats on National TV!

Livingston County Dems showed Gov. Jennifer Granholm a little love Monday (Oct. 27, 2008) and she showed it right back -- on national television, no less.

The governor came to the headquarters of the Livingston County Democratic Party and the Barack Obama Campaign for Change in Brighton to kick off a canvass with just over one week to go until the Nov. 4 election. She fired up the canvassers crowded into the office with a vision of how an Obama administration's energy policy could bring jobs to Michigan. And the canvassers fired Granholm up with rousing applause.

Later, Granholm told the audience of MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" why Obama has a double digit-lead in Michigan.

"We understand what is really important here," she said. "We are all about jobs. I just left a county, Livingston County, which is a fairly conservative county (by the way, they made sure they told me to say hello, they love you). It was a packed Democratic kick-off. They were wall to wall, and this county should never be up for grabs, or at least certainly we shouldn't have any Democratic House seats that are in play."

Granholm said the McCain pull-out from Michigan left the field open for negtative attack ads against Obama and "it's just not working."

As Granholm put it, George Bush pulled out of Michigan eight years ago by ignoring Michigan's auto industry and the nation's manufacturing sector. John McCain, she said, "keeps trotting out the same old policies" and that's not working either.

Guess the Livingston Dems made an impression on our great governor.

Best Summary of Last Eight Years, Ever

Juan Cole, from the University of Michigan, has produced the best summary of the last eight years that you will ever read.

It's short and to the point. Read it here on his Informed Comment blog for Monday (Sept. 22, 2008).

His conclusion: Americans must be masochists to want to return Republicans to the presidency after the way they have plundered the nation during their years in power.

Read it and weep for our children's future. Or read it and call (810) 229-4212 to volunteer for the Barack Obama Campaign for Change here in Livingston County.

The Lifeblood of Politics: Why Young People Should (and Do) Have an Influence in Politics

(Guest blogged by MB, a Brighton High graduate and student at Northwestern University -- Welcome MB!)

How important are the youth of America in Today's political scene? How much influence do they really have? Some would even question if it is worth the time of people running for election to even court the young vote, or to listen to the opinions of young voters. The youngsters out there lack the experience to know what to do, to say what to say, and therefore, something as important as politics should be left to the grown-ups, right? Wrong.

Nothing could be further from truth. The fact of the matter is, young people are the lifeblood of the political system, and without the creativity, energy, and pure hope in their country that interested young people bring to the table, this nation would lose out on a valuable portion of it's demographic.

There is no denying that young voters in the past have not represented themselves well: According to a 2003 USA Today article, since the voting age was changed to 18 and up in 1973, the number of 18-20 year-olds showing up to the polls has consistently gone down. In the 2004 presidential elections, the US Census Bureau recorded that the 18-24 voting block had the lowest percentage of people registered (58%) and actual voters (47%) of any eligible age bloc in America.

What do those numbers really mean, though? More than 11.6 million people under the age of 25 voted in the 2004 presidential election, according to the Census Bureau, over three million more than did in the 2000 presidential election. And while the 18-24 year-old electorate may have had the lowest registration and voting rates of any group, they showed the highest jump from the 2000 presidential of any age group in both of those categories, with registration increasing by seven percent and voting up a huge 11%. It is my firm belief that this trend of increasing young voters will continue, so to ignore this resurgent voting bloc can only hurt politicians vying for a position.

But besides all of the numbers proving young people have an influence through voting, Americans need to realize the necessity of the youth in the entire political arena. While people have exhausted the idea that "young people are the future", this point should not be belittled: The teens and twenty-somethings are the generation, my generation, that are going to inherit the political system. Young people are the ones that are going to be around to see today's changes affect the lives of people down the road, and young people have the advantage of not having become jaded by years on the daily grind that worn-out politicians often fall victim to.

Do not mistake the lack of years, however, as a lack of experience. The youth of today have grown up in their own time of wars, of economic booms and (more often) busts, and have been around long enough to recognize failure in government when they see it. Young people are definitely the force behind the political sphere, and to all those people that may believe otherwise, remember one thing:

You were young once, too.

Livingston Officers Step Down to Focus on Their Campaigns

Two leaders of the Livingston County Democratic Party are turning over the reins of party leadership in order to concentrate on their campaigns for state and local races.

Party Chair Matt Evans and Vice Chair Donna Anderson announced at the party’s monthly meeting on Thursday (June 26, 2008) that they wished to relinquish their duties. Evans is a write-in candidate on the Aug. 5 primary ballot for supervisor of Green Oak Township. Anderson is seeking the party’s nomination to replace term-limited Republican Chris Ward as state representative from the 66th District, which includes the city of Brighton, Milford and a portion of western Oakland County.

"I have a busy law practice, a wonderful wife, and a growing son that I want to see more of. And I want to campaign hard in Green Oak Township. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I thought I could go without sleep, but I’m a mere mortal, and I can't," Evans said.

Anderson said continuing leadership of the busy county party would cut down on the time she would have to get to know voters in her legislative race.

"I've enjoyed my time as vice chair. Our party is growing so rapidly that being an officer takes a tremendous amount of time. It’s just not possible to take on two heavy responsibilities at the same time and still have time to see my grandchildren," Anderson said.

Under the leadership of Evans and Anderson, the party has been aggressive in scheduling fund-raisers and other events. It has held movie nights to show films such as Michael Moore's "Sicko," hosted information forums on stem cell research and the Michigan Supreme Court, and landed prestigious speakers such as UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer.

The new chair and vice chair said they plan to continue those programs, while putting together a get-out-the-vote program to maximize Democratic turnout in November.

Judy Daubenmier, who was unanimously elected party chair, said she expects a smooth transition. "We want to pick up right where Matt and Donna left off. As Democrats, we are focused on the fall," she said.

Daubenmier, 58, of Genoa Township, has lived in Livingston County since 1989 and has been a member of the party executive committee since January 2007. She worked as a volunteer for the local party in the 2004 election. She has a doctorate in history from the University of Michigan and teaches part-time in the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is a member of the Lecturers' Employee Organization, Local 6244 of the American Federation of Teachers, at the University of Michigan and of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Brighton. She and her husband, Michael, have one grown daughter.

Dave Buckland, 59, of Hamburg Township, was unanimously elected vice chair. Buckland and his wife, Debby, have lived in Livingston County since 1977 and raised three sons here. A graduate of Ohio State University, he is a quality engineer with ACH-LLC, (automotive components holding). Dave has been committed to the community, coaching 19 years for his children's youth soccer, baseball, and basketball teams, including 5 years as HCAA Youth Soccer Commissioner. He served three years on the Hamburg Parks and Recreation Committee and is in the 13th year on the Strawberry Lakes Joint Parks Committee and is currently the Treasurer.

Buckland has been on the party’s executive committee since January 2007 and ran for the Livingston County Commission for the 8th district in 2006.

Brighton Obama Unite for Change Event Features Former Clinton Activist

Supporters of Barack Obama are getting organized in Livingston County -- with the help of a former supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Debby Buckland, who was the state field director for Clinton in two states, is co-hosting the Obama Unite for Change event at 1 p.m. Saturday (June 28, 2008) at Livingston County Democratic Party headquarters, 10321 E. Grand River, Suite 600 of the Fonda office park, in Brighton.

No political experience is necessary. Come and find out how you can help elect Barack Obama right here in Livingston County, simply by talking to other people. Call (810) 229-4212 for more information.

The event will take about an hour. Refreshments and Obama bumper stickers and buttons will be available (for a donation). Call (810) 229-4212 for more information.

Having Debby working as a volunteer for this campaign shows how serious we are about finding every possible Obama vote in our county.

Debby worked in West Virginia and Minnesota as the state field director for Clinton, but now is enthusiastic to be volunteering for Obama.

"My candidate didn't win, but we're all Democrats and after the primaries are over, we shake hands and go back to work for the winner," she said.

Debby has significant campaign experience. She was campaign manager for Edward Woods III for Lansing Community College Trustee in Lansing in 2007; worked for the Bill Richardson for President campaign in Linn County, Iowa, during 2007 as lead field organizer; was field director for the Christine Jennings Recount Campaign in Sarasota, Florida,in 2006; was regional field director for the 2006 Michigan Coordinated Campaign in Lansing, and was lead field organizer for the 2004 Michigan Coordinated Campaign in Livingston County.

Come Saturday and learn from Debby how we can help elect Barack Obama right here in Livingston County!

Alexander Campaign Getting Attention

Bob Alexander isn't the only person who thinks he can beat Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's 8th Congressional District.

The Michigan Messenger is touting Bob's chances in a post for Friday (June 13, 2008).

Says the post: "If Alexander, whose only other attempt at elected office was an unsuccessful run against Rogers in 2004, did manage to tilt even 1 percent of his district away from voting again for Rogers, it would make his an inspirational story: The longtime Democratic activist in the trenches winning against a long-serving Republican with massive name recognition -- and having it be for national office. In these tough economic and global times, and if the success of the Obama campaign is any indicator, voters might not automatically pull the lever for 'experience' come November."

Livingston Democratic Candidates Shine in Spotlight

Livingston County-area media are finding Democratic candidates to be notable and quotable. At least two candidates have been featured in area newspapers within the last week.

Anna Ernst, a candidate for trustee in Green Oak Township, was quoted in the Livingston Press and Argus on Thursday (May 22, 2008) about the land deal that has been making headlines in that township for months. Ernst pointed out that the current crop of trustees has been far too secretive about the process, making it impossible for the public to trust them.

And Adrian Campbell Montgomery of Hartland, a candidate for county commissioner in District 3, was featured in the Flint Journal on Saturday (May 24, 2008). The focus of the article was her brief role in the Michael Moore film on health care, Sicko, and decision by Meijer's to fire her because of it. Adrian explains how the experience has politicized her. Adrian recently returned from New York, where she taped a segment for the Laura Flanders TV show.

Congratulations to both candidates for their showing!