Stories related to: Michigan

Mitt Romney is today's top candidate to fill out John McCain’s ticket, Politico reports. The ex-Massachusetts governor has conservative cred, Michigan roots, fundraising chops—and not much chemistry with McCain. McCain hopes to wait out Barack Obama and see the Democratic ticket before announcing his choice, a play one staffer called a “bounce-mitigation strategy.” More »

Barack Obama is meeting with two of the Big Three in encounters the Wall Street Journal says “could thaw festering tension” between the Dem and America’s automakers. A year after Obama criticized the companies for fighting fuel-economy standards and rewarding “failure with lucrative bonuses for CEOs,” he met with Ford’s chief yesterday in a summit the businessman called “productive.” More »

Forget the old swing-state conventional wisdom. Salon rounds up some experts and asks where the electoral map might flip in November: The eastern Rust belt (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan) is John McCain’s best hope. Ohio is traditionally weakest for Democrats, but the Michigan primary remains a problem, and aging Pennsylvanians are GOP-friendly. More »

Negative Californian reaction to John McCain’s offshore drilling flip-flop makes it appear the Republican has lost his strategic marbles, the Los Angeles Times notes—but McCain is gambling that efforts to lower gas prices will trump environmental concerns for voters in states like Michigan and Ohio. He’s “essentially conceding” California, said one consultant, in order to boost his standing elsewhere. More »

As climbing rivers knocked out an Iowa bridge and flooded Illinois farms, communities along the Mississippi River are bracing for what could be its biggest overflow in 15 years, the AP reports. The National Weather Service warned of crests of 10 feet above flood stage and higher over the next 2 weeks. “I've been downtown for 37 years and I have never seen anything like this,” said one Cedar Falls, Iowa, resident. More »

Barack Obama again did penance for calling a Michigan TV reporter “sweetie,” giving an eight-minute interview yesterday to Peggy Agar, three weeks after causing an uproar by using that term of endearment in brushing off a question she asked. At the time, the candidate apologized for his “bad habit” in a voicemail message, WXYZ-TV reports. More »

Hillary Clinton made a very public point of keeping her options open—with Harold Ickes angrily reserving the campaign's right to appeal today's delegate decision—but she seems increasingly resolved to defeat, the New York Times reports. Instead of taking the fight to the convention, close associates think she'll drop out at some point after next week's results and endorse Barack Obama. Just don't bet the house on it. More »

Democratic party leaders continue to wrangle over the disputed delegates of Florida and Michigan today, hearing impassioned pleas from representatives of both states and campaigns. Hundreds of protesters are gathered outside the Washington meeting as the party's rules committee seeks a compromise, the AP reports. “We are strong enough to struggle and disagree and to even be angry and disappointed and still come together at the end of the day and be united,” said party chief Howard Dean. More »

Barack Obama is urging supporters not to demonstrate at Saturday’s meeting of the Democrats' rules committee, hoping to keep the event from becoming a cable-news circus, the Hill reports. Clinton supporters have pledged to gather outside the meeting, where party bigs will decide whether, and how many Florida and Michigan delegates are seated at the convention in August. More »

It's here. Alaska has the painful distinction of becoming the first state where gas is selling for an average of $4 a gallon, Reuters reports. The average for the rest of the US is hovering at $3.76, but Connecticut, California, New York, and Illinois could all join Alaska in the $4-a-gallon club after Memorial Day weekend. More »

Hillary Clinton today rejected the latest plan for seating Michigan’s rogue delegates, Talking Points Memo reports. A campaign rep wrote of the scheme settled on by state Dems that would award Clinton 69 delegates to Obama’s 59: “This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast. Those votes must be counted.” January's extra-legal vote netted her 73 conventioneers to 55 for “uncommitted.” More »

A 53-year-old mother of three, on the lam for 32 years after escaping from a Detroit prison, has been nabbed in a San Diego suburb. A fugitive since 1976, Susan Lefevre left the prison on a work pass and didn't return; she'll now have to finish out the remaining 9 years of her 10-year sentence for selling drugs, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. More »

Florida and Michigan delegates will likely have to wait until June to see whether they can participate in the party’s convention, Howard Dean said on Face the Nation today. The DNC chairman said Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would rather focus on the final primaries, which will end on June 3, the AP reports. "But I think we can work it out, and I want to work it out," he said. More »

A Michigan police sting has netted another notable john: Sen. Debbie Stabenow's husband was caught in February paying a 20-year-old prostitute $150 for oral sex. Police observed Thomas Athans enter a Troy hotel room and leave 15 minutes later, reports the Detroit News. Officers arrested a woman inside the room, and detained Athans in his car; he later admitted he met her through an online ad. More »

A new plan from a Michigan congressman would apportion about half the state's Democratic delegates based on its outlaw January primary and the other half according to national popular-vote tallies, the AP reports. “The last thing we want to do as Democrats," Bart Stupak wrote to Democratic Party chief Howard Dean, "is to disenfranchise voters.” More »

Residents of the nation’s heartland are celebrating Easter weekend besieged by floods and snowstorms, which expected to keep hitting Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the AP reports. Forecasters predict up to 12 inches of snow for the Ohio Valley, while other areas remain soaked thanks to a foot of rain in just 36 hours, and more still to come. More »

Chances of a new primary being held in Michigan all but disappeared today as the state Senate adjourned without taking action, the Detroit Free Press reports. Senate leaders said it was pointless to take up the plan because the Clinton and Obama camps disagreed on how to go about it. Most observers considered today the last chance to act because the Senate now leaves on spring recess. More »

Michigan officials are close to a deal on how to stage a primary do-over for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the AP reports. No date has been set, but details may be released tomorrow. It likely will be a regular primary, and it must be staged sometime before June 10. In Florida, meanwhile, plans for a re-vote hit a brick wall today as opposition surfaced to the idea of conducting it by mail. More »

Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan doctor who says he's helped at least 130 die and who's been convicted of second-degree murder in one such assisted suicide, says he plans to run for Congress in a Detroit suburb, the Oakland (Mich.) Press reports. Kevorkian, 79, will make an independent bid against the incumbent Republican; he’ll need 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot. More »

Michigan and Florida senators appeared closer today to approving mail-in re-votes for their disqualified primaries, the Swamp blog reports. DNC chair Howard Dean said he also supported the mail-ins if state leaders can agree with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on how to run them. “I have to run these rules so that the losing side feels it’s been treated fairly,” he said on “This Week with George Stephanopolous.” More »