Tagged: democrats

DETROIT (AP) - The longtime leader of the Michigan Democrats is losing his job.

Mark Brewer on Saturday withdrew from the race for party chairman at the state Democratic Party convention in Detroit. He said he wishes challenger Lon Johnson all the best.

Brewer announced his decision to thousands of delegates rather than continue an uphill climb to retain his seat after unions and Michigan's Democratic congressional delegation got behind Johnson. Brewer said he wishes Johnson all the best.

Michigan voters will choose between two long time fixtures on the state political scene in next Tuesday’s U.S. Senate race.  

The result may mark the end of one of those political careers.

Democrat Debbie Stabenow has spent the past twelve years in the U.S. Senate. 

In that time, the Democratic incumbent has acquired a certain degree of political influence, for example as the chair of the Senate Agriculture committee, and a certain comfort when it comes to raising campaign donations. 

Michigan’s U.S. Senate race is getting attention from top Congressional GOP leaders at the Republican National Convention.

“It’s not just carrying it for Mitt Romney…we need a new senator from Michigan as well,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Michigan delegates this morning, “Because I would like to be setting the agenda in the Senate instead of (Democratic Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid.”

McConnell told the delegates that Republican control of the U.S. Senate depends on Michigan.

Political shenanigans are nothing new at national political conventions.

But Michigan Democrats are the ones having fun today at Mitt Romney’s expense.

It started, as many things at a national political conventions do, with a press release.

But this press release had the eye catching title “Michigan GOP to Hold “No One’s Ever Asked to See My Birth Certificate” party.   The press release claimed the party was to show support for Mitt Romney, who raised the issue of President Obama’s birth certificate last Friday in Michigan.

A conservative group picketed outside U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow’s offices in East Lansing and Flint today.

The focus of the protests was Stabenow’s support for the federal health care law.

A new group is asking the state of Michigan to pick up the cost of a special election to fill the unexpired term of former Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A hearing is scheduled in Lansing on Wednesday on a package of bills that would prevent some patients from suing doctors for malpractice.

The hearing is 8 a.m. before the state Senate Insurance Committee in Lansing.

Leaders of the 16,000-member Michigan State Medical Society say the Patients First Reform Package closes a legal loophole that allows unnecessary suits to be filed and prevents trial lawyers from artificially inflating awards.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Senate is expected to vote on legislation that would end state-provided health care coverage in retirement for new public school hires and require current employees to pay more toward pensions.

The Wednesday legislative session is the only one scheduled for July. The Senate is expected to take up the bill passed last month by the House.

The bill doesn't contain earlier language that would force new teachers into a 401 (k)-style plan. The measure calls for studying how ending the pensions would affect the state.

The Democratic National Committee will hold a Platform Committee meeting next month in Detroit, a major stop on the road to party's September convention in Charlotte, N.C.

The Democratic Party announced yesterday that the platform committee will meet Aug. 10 through 12. Participants are expected to discuss the party's draft platform, submit amendments and present it to convention delegates at the Charlotte convention.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said the decision to hold the meeting in Detroit highlights Michigan's political importance.

In a statement on the Michigan Democratic Party website, Brewer said,

The Platform Committee has the critical task of drafting and voting on a platform to present to the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in September, and we are honored to host the committee members in Detroit. This distinction shows how important Michigan is to the Democratic Party and to the 2012 election effort. We welcome the elected officials and dignitaries of the committee to Michigan.

The 2012 Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa, Fl. this August.

-Elaine Ezekiel, Michigan Radio Newsroom

You may not have realized this, but the best thing President Obama may have going for him in November is that the Detroit Tigers are having a pretty disappointing season.

That may sound nuts to you, but there is documented evidence of this:  Throughout history, whenever the Tigers have done spectacularly well in an election year, the Republicans almost always win. When they’ve disappointed fans, the Democrats usually triumph.