Elections
(2009-10-30)
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Next week, voters in Michigan's 19th State Senate district, which stretches from Battle Creek to Jackson, will elect a new state senator.
And many political observers are asking, why Democrats aren't trying harder to hold onto the seat?
A year ago, Democrat Mark Schauer unseated incumbent Republican Congressman Tim Walberg. When Schauer went to Washington, he left behind a vacant seat in the state senate. Since then, south central Michigan residents have waited to elect Schauer's successor....And waited...and waited. Governor Granholm delayed calling for a special election to fill the seat for months.
"She did try to schedule it at a time that would be most advantageous for the Democrats," says Susan Demas, a political columnist, "But it doesn't seem to have helped very much."
,br> Demas says the 19th is a swing district. And after electing Mark Schauer the past few election cycles, the chances of another Democrat winning the seat have been eroding.
"The internal polling on this race has been very poor for the Democrats since the Spring," says Demas, "And I think at this point, nobody is willing to spend very much money on a losing battle."
Campaign finance data released last week back up what Demas says. Republican Mike Nofs campaign has raised over 400 thousand dollars, compared with little more than 30 thousand dollars for Democrat Marty Griffin.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has been a big spender in the race, paying over 200 thousand dollars for radio and TV ads linking Democratic candidate Marty Griffin to rising budget deficits in Lansing and Washington.
The second term state representative and former mayor of Jackson insists he wants to find ways to reduce state spending and reform Michigan's tax system.
"We still have to look at 'Are we doing government right?'," says Griffin, "Are we running programs the way we need to? Aare we running programs we don't need to anymore? And we need to do a comprehensive look at our entire taxing structure, instead of passing little piecemeal things, we got to look at what we're doing, what is not good for the state's economy."
Republican Mike Nofs has made getting state spending under control the mantra of his campaign. Nofs served three terms in the state house and is a former Calhoun county commissioner and state trooper.
Nofs says the state could save more than a billion dollars by eliminating the earned income tax credit for the working poor and renegotiating state contracts.
"Michigan government is pretty heavy in middle management," says Nofs, "There's a lot of consolidation, we talk about schools consolidating, there's a lot of consolidating in state government and save a lot of administrative dollars. And I think we need to look close there. We could save another half billion dollars, with different ideas. So you're getting close to two billion dollars."
Political columnist Susan Demas says a Nofs win would widen Republican control in the state senate and cause further problems for the Michigan Democratic Party.
"That makes it much more of an uphill battle to take back the chamber (Senate). Something the Democrats haven't done in 25 years regardless," says Demas, "And it provides a real psychological boost for the Republicans, who have been faring fairly poorly in Michigan for the past couple (election) cycles. So, you're going to hear all about the Republican comeback for the next year off of this one race."
In addition to Nofs and Griffin 19th District voters have a choice of two other candidates, Libertarian Greg Merle and independent Steve Mobley. © Copyright 2010, Michigan Radio
