The following essay was written by Ben Zylman who lives in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District and is “represented” by Congressman Fred Upton. I use quotes around “represented” intentionally and you’ll come to understand why when you read Ben’s piece. Enjoy. I’m not the kind of person who ever thought I’d write a political opinion piece. For years, I paid little […]

If voting didn’t matter, Republicans wouldn’t mind if your vote counted. The safest bet in the world is that Democrats will win the popular vote for the House on November 6 the way they have won the popular vote in the last 6 out of 7 presidential elections. But they could still easily lose the House majority. Republicans starting off […]

By now it’s no secret that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette used his office and staff for his own personal work. From working on political operations and promoting his book tour to conducting multi-million dollar real estate transactions and hiring “Republican campaign activists” as staff in his office right before the 2016 campaign began, Bill Schuette appears to view tax […]

Although I had been blogging elsewhere for awhile, the doors at Eclectablog opened up ten years ago this past summer. During that time we’ve gone from one guy writing about an eclectic assortment of topics to becoming the main progressive political blog in Michigan and one of the top progressive blogs in the country. We helped blow the lid off […]

We found out today that the DCCC is spending money in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District to take that seat away from Fred Upton, the man who played a huge role helping to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Haley Stevens is up by double digits in the 11th District meaning that seat will swing from David Trott, the Foreclosure King. In […]

The race for Michigan’s open seat in the 19th State House District is a virtual tie according to polling. Democrats have a dynamite young woman running. Laurie Pohutsky is a microbiologist (you know I have a soft spot for scientists!) who has an impressive list of endorsements from progressive and labor organizations as well as notable community leaders. She supports […]

We are up against formidable political opponents. The conservative right and the corporatists — not always the same players — have spent decades rigging the game in every system imaginable in their favor. They’ve gerrymandered our districts, convinced even liberals that taxes are bad and deficits are worse, and they privatize everything not nailed down to funnel tax dollars into […]

U.S. Senate candidate John James is the Republican running against Democrat Debbie Stabenow in the general election. James recently was revealed to making a joke about “grabbing boobs” in a campaign speech, showing just how myopic he is about our country and the issues people care about. However, his first television ad of the general election takes this to a […]

Seems like all we hear these days is about how a Democratic Blue Wave is going to sweep across the country like an electoral tsunami this year on Election Day. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen, that is, unless everyone — not just long-time Democratic Party volunteers […]

Donald Trump has built a big, beautiful gender gap. And the question is, “Who is going to pay for it?” A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that registered voters prefer House Democrats to Republicans by 11 percentage points while likely voters prefer Democratic House candidates by 13 points. This divide is the result of an enthusiasm among Democrats, younger […]

UPDATE: Michael Steinberg, mentioned below, has amended his Facebook post and, thankfully, no longer recommends “plunking” for Sam Bagenstos. I’m leaving the post up because a number of people still are spreading this tripe. I have also heard that some people believe this is the position of the ACLU of Michigan. It is NOT. I was recently made aware of […]