Online Sturgis Journal poll shows DeVos leading Granholm

An informal online poll on the homepage of the Sturgis Journal shows Dick DeVos leading Jennifer Granholm 57% to 38% with the remaining 5% of the votes cast as 'other.' It is a small sample size (442 total votes as of this morning), but it does tend to show what the residents of one of Michigan's poorer counties thinks. The residents of St. Joseph county are asking themselves if they are better off or worse off than they were 4 years ago. By looking at their votes and the mood around southwest Michigan I would have to say that folks around here believe they are worse off than they were 4 years ago. Granted this is a very small sample size, but I would wager that if you were able to poll 1,000 residents of St. Joseph county you would reach similar results.

The question is, how does the rest of the state feel? Are we better or worse than 4 years ago and how much does that affect your vote for governor of Michigan.

DeVos and Granholm to hold three televised debates

Speaking of pirates politics, I see that Dick DeVos and current Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will be squaring off for three televised debates in October. The debates will take place October 2 in Lansing, October 10 in Grand Rapids, and October 16 in Southfield. It should be interesting to see what comes out of these debates regardless of who the pundits say "wins" the debate. Will Jennifer Granholm expound on how she is helping Michigan shake of the economic doldrums? Will Dick DeVos provide some clarity on his plan to turn Michigan around?

Hopefully instead of muddying the political waters with more rhetoric these two candidates for the next governor of Michigan will instead bring some fresh ideas on how to make Michigan better with some hard facts to back them up. Wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air in the realm of politics?

Via the Detroit Free Press.

Granholm increases her lead over DeVos

Governor Jennifer Granholm has increased her lead over her Republican challenger, Dick DeVos to 7 points at 49% to 42%. The poll was conducted by Detroit News/WXYZ-TV on Monday and Tuesday of this week. 600 "likely voters" (um, does this mean that they are not all registered voters?) were polled. I would like some information on the demographics for this poll. Are these "likely voters" registered voters? Is there only a fraction of them that are registered?

Polls always bother me. Not just political ones, but any kind of poll. They never really give a lot of information on the people giving the opinions.

This leads me to this question. Has anyone out there ever heard this phrase?

Figures can lie and liars can figure.

Also, 80% of all figures are made up. By the way, I just made that up :). Go figure.

Granholm leads DeVos in latest poll

A new poll by The Detroit News/WXYZ-TV shows Governor Jennifer Granholm leading Dick DeVos 50% to 47%. Dick DeVos has been running television ads for about 6 months to the tune of $13 million and Granholm has just recently begun her television ad campaign. I believe that this goes back to my previous post titled, "Can a Millionaire Michigan Congressman Represent the Average Michigander?" It sure seems that in politics these days whomever has the deepest pockets to fund the largest advertising campaign garners the most votes in November.

Look at these simple facts. DeVos was running television ads left and right and spending $13 million to do so while Granholm's campaign bided their time. He built up a lead in the polls back in June of 48% to Granholm's 40%.

Now that Granholm's campaign is spending the advertising dollars is it really a surprise that things have swung back her way to this slight lead? You spend money and good things will happen.

I am not saying that money talks so well that you could put a social lowlife such as a meth dealer into a campaign and spend enough money so they would win an election. You have to have someone people relate to and believe in. Granholm and DeVos fit the bill for quite a few folks according to these polls.

Via The Detroit News.

Michigan Voter Information Center

I am not sure who all might have or be receiving this, but I thought I would share it with you. Yesterday, I received a postcard from the state of Michigan about the Michigan Voter Information center at www.michigan.gov/vote. Below is a scan of the information on the postcard I received.

A very simple search function is the first thing you will see at Michigan.gov/vote that allows you to enter either your drivers license number or your name, birth year, and zip code. After you hit the 'search' button information on your polling location including a map comes up. It will also let you know if you are registered to vote.

By the way, here is the information on upcoming deadlines and elections:

State Primary - August 8, 2006 (registration deadline was July 10, 2006) State General Election - November 7, 2006 (registration deadline is October 10, 2006)

Oops! Granholm's Campaign in Legal Hot Water

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that GOP Chair Saul Anuzis believes that Governor Granholm's re-election campaign violated the law when it used the email addresses of those who signed an online gas price petition (the one I wrote about here) to ask for support of Granholm in this fall's election. The GOP chair also stated that the Granholm campaign had "violated the privacy of citizens who signed the petitions, who had been assured the names would not be used for any other purpose." Granholm's spokesman, Chris Dewitt, refutes the claims Anuzis has made as being "long on rhetoric and short on facts." The email addresses were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. It is not known whether or not the Republicans received the same list or if they have/had plans to use those email addresses.

Sounds to me like both sides are slinging some good ol' rhetoric. A novel idea would be if both Republicans and Democrats came up and spoke out against such behavior. Basically, it seems like the re-election campaign of Granholm's spammed the good people who only provided their email addresses to sign a petition to do something about high gas prices. I say thumbs down to both parties for wanting (and the Republicans supposedly wanting) to use this information for their respective parties' gain.