Tagged: Ron Paul

Some Democrats hope they can play a decisive role in Michigan Republican presidential primary.

Robo-calls and e-mail blasts to Democrats are encouraging them to vote for Rick Santorum to help him beat Michigan native son Mitt Romney. Other party activists say Democrats should vote for Ron Paul.

David Doyle is a political consultant and former Michigan Republican chairman. He said it is possible for voters who are not Republicans to swing the primary results.

“Well, as close as this primary appears to be, it may be decided by one or two points. Very few Democrats and independents could have an impact. The problem is, right now, the Democrats seem to be very divided.”

But Doyle said that impact would be diluted if those voters split their votes among the Republican candidates.

It’s a busy day of campaigning in Michigan for three leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney spent today hopping from one rally to another in hopes of getting enough support to win Tuesday’s presidential primary in his native state.

Hundreds of people jammed into a machine parts manufacturer’s plant near Albion to hear Romney.

"This sure has been fun these last ten days or so," Romney joked, "We started off…15 points behind in the polls.  Now, we’re leading in the polls.   Thanks you guys."

Congressman Ron Paul is making stops in Detroit, Dearborn and Lansing Monday, a day before Michigan’s presidential primary. Paul attracted more than 1,000 people at two separate campaign stops in Mt. Pleasant and a Grand Rapids suburb over the weekend.

People wearing ‘Ron Paul revolution’ baseball caps and sweatshirts filled a banquet hall in Hudsonville to capacity Sunday. There Paul said the United States needs to end its involvement in foreign conflicts and privatize entitlement programs like Social Security. He also stressed the need for more civil freedom.

“We’ll never agree on how we want to use our freedoms. In a room like this there might be 50 different religious values and some with no religious values at all. But freedom answers the question because we don’t impose ourselves on other people. You do what you want,” Paul said.

Predicting presidential primary turnout is a tricky business. You would think if anyone would have a good idea of what to expect it would be the Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections in Michigan.

“We don’t have a turnout estimate at this point," says Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, "because it is a presidential primary and they do vary greatly from cycle to cycle.”

Woodhams says August primaries generally bring in about 18 to 20 percent of eligible voters. But then again that’s August. Adding to the uncertainty is a host of local issues which may, or may not, boost turnout.

Voters in parts of Oakland and Genesee Counties are electing people to vacant state house seats. There are also numerous school bond and other local issues on the ballot in communities around the state.

There's nothing like a good political pony race, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are in a close one in Michigan.

Much has been made of Rick Santorum's lead in Michigan. How could an outsider be up on Michigan's native son?

Now a new poll shows Romney has closed the gap.

The Michigan Information and Research Service and the Mitchell Research Poll released new numbers this morning. It shows Romney leading Santorum 32 percent to 30 percent - well within the margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Rick Santorum is leading in a new poll of likely Republican presidential primary voters in Michigan.   The primary is in two weeks. 

A poll by Public Policy Polling finds 39% of likely primary voters (70% Republicans/30% Democrats and Independents) say they support the former Pennsylvania United States Senator.