All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog President Barack Obama traveled to East Lansing, Michigan yesterday to sign the federal farm bill into law. Last updated in 2008, the bill in its current form has been worked on for four years. Much of the wrangling was contentious and no topic was as contentious as its impact on the […]

The cavalry is coming! The cavalry is coming! [Image by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog] The Obama adminstration will be in Detroit today and bring with them $300 million in new federal and private investments, much of which is designed to eradicate blight and foster an environment of rehabilitation. The delegation is led by chief White House economic adviser, […]

“There is a group of extremists in the House that is controlling the agenda and that has to stop.” – Sen. Amy Klobuchar When Wyandotte was in Congressman John Dingell’s district, every year he held a fundraiser at the Yack Arena. That ended in 2001 when redistricting took Wyandotte away. But, now, thanks to re-redistricting, Wyandotte is again represented by […]

This is good. This is VERY good

Two Democrats first elected to Congress together in 2008 are rapidly becoming the unrivaled choices of the Michigan Democrats. This bodes well for uncontested primaries for both of them which will help them use their campaign treasuries for beating their Republican opponents and avoiding bruising primary races.

Details on this exciting news after the jump.

Run, Gary, run!

Moments ago, Gary Peters announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Carl Levin in 2014.

Click through for details. Liveblogging begins at 2:00 p.m.

“[T]he grit and the determination and the confidence, the certainty, the absolute commitment that this country has…is more exemplified by Detroit, Michigan than any other state in the Union.” All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog. Not for reuse without permission. Last night’s Jefferson Jackson dinner was a rallying point for Michigan Democrats and every speaker from former […]

Double digit leads must be very helpful when you’re deciding if you’ll run

Congressman Gary Peters from Michigan’s 14th Congressional District leads his nearest opponent in the race to replace Senator Carl Levin when he retires in 2014 by a factor of two in a recent poll conducted by Main Street Strategies. Of the four leading candidates, Peters has a very clear early lead with 24.8% of the vote. Former MI-01 Congressman Bart Stupak was favored by 11.7% of the 1,032 respondents, Debbie Dingell — wife of U.S. Congressman John Dingell — got 9.2% and former Congressman Mark Schauer came in at 9.0%.

Click through for more.

Daughter of the Curse of the Living Romneys

It seems like just a couple of days ago I was writing about how the Romney family just can’t seem to leave Michigan alone. Okay, it WAS just a couple of days ago. At that time, I wrote about how Mitt’s older brother Scott, an attorney few have ever heard of and a man with no almost no experience as an elected official [I have been informed that Mr. Romney once sat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees from 2000-2008], was pondering running for Senator Carl Levin’s seat when he retires next year. Well, two short days later, he has decided NOT to run after all.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t have a Romney family member to ridicule for running for a national seat with no previous experience whatsoever. Turns out that after Mr. Romney’s decision not to run, he reached into the famous Romney Binder Full of Women™ and now his daughter Ronna Romney McDaniel is “looking at it”.

Details after the jump.

Well this makes things interesting…

U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D – Michigan) announced today that he will not run for re-election in 2014, a move that opens the seat to a newcomer and has Republicans licking their chops at the chance to run for a Senate seat against someone who is not a powerful incumbent.

More after the jump.

How fail is Mitt Romney? Let me count the ways.

We all know how hard it is to pin Mitt Romney down. That’s why, when he’s attacked on his private sector job growth history — and by “growth” I mean “you call that growth?” — he pivots to talking smack about public sector employees.

Rather than trying to keep up with his dancing, weaving and bobbing, the Obama campaign is simply hitting him on both fronts simultaneously.

Restoring hope for Detroit’s future

Last night, the Detroit NAACP held its 57th Annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner. This was a particularly auspicious event because this is the 100-year anniversary of the Detroit branch of the NAACP.

It is hard to understate the immensity of this event. Upwards of 6,000 people attended this gala event at the Cobo Center in Detroit. There were five podiums set up, ringing the room, each with a long line of seats for dignitaries stretching out on both sides.

The press conference before the event was attended not only by the award winners but such dignitaries as…