Yesterday, the Small Business Association of Michigan heard from both Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor and the U.S. Senate. They were asked a single question to answer: “If elected, what will you do to help small business thrive in Michigan?” Republicans Rick Snyder and Terri Lynn Land appeared in person while Democrats Mark Schauer and Gary Peters appeared via […]

Back in 2012, Pontiac Emergency Manager Louis Schimmel signed an agreement with Oakland County to manage monies from a substantial HUD grant. That turned out to be a nearly disasterous decision that would have resulted in a loss of upwards of $800,000 per year for Pontiac. Thankfully, Congressman Gary Peters stepped in a saved the day (and the money.) At […]

For Land, saying nothing is probably good campaign strategy — but it’s a very bad thing for Michigan voters. If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land has clearly fallen hook, line and sinker for the Koch brothers, who are pouring big bucks into her campaign. But what exactly are the […]

Just like with Obamacare, the key is playing offense The Environmental Protection Agency is going to release rules next week limiting the amount of carbon dioxide pollution that can be released from power plants. Amidst a lot of worry about the impact this will have on Democrats in an off-year election, apparently the optimistic take on this among Washington Democratic […]

“Politics is all about power for them. Politics should always be about people for us.” Michigan Democrats took over the newly-renovated Cobo Hall in Detroit last night in a show of forceful solidarity unlike anything I’ve seen in the recent past. A sold out crowd of over 2,200 packed the venue, over 700 more than attended the event in 2012 […]

Right where we want her Terri Lynn Land is a one-note song and the name of that song is “Obamacare”. With the help of millions of dollars of sweet, sweet Koch brothers’ money, she’s spent the past few months attempting to hurt Gary Peters on this issue. Despite this, Peters is up 5 points on her according to the latest […]

Peters, Totten: Hit your opponents on Obamacare

If you are watching basketball and the play is constantly at one end of the court, you have a pretty good guess who’s winning, right? (HINT: not the team that’s spending all its time defending). The same thing goes for hockey, soccer, football…and communications.

When Chris interviewed me when I started writing here he asked about the mistakes I see progressive communicators make, and I answered that playing defense instead of offense is one of the biggest ones. I see too many candidates and advocates spend their time defending against attacks, trying to justify to the public why their views aren’t wrong, rather than going on the offense against their opponents and forcing them to explain the ways they are out of touch with American values.

Not. Ready. For. Prime. Time Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land recently released her “solutions” for strengthening Michigan manufacturing. More accurately, she’s calling them “solutions “. However, they are so blatantly empty of content and, in some cases, downright wrong that calling them “solutions” strains the bounds of the definition of the word. You can find her “solutions” HERE, a […]

An extremist group’s rights don’t get to trump everyone else’s, unless we let them. I’m utterly disgusted by Right to Life of Michigan’s latest crusade, this time against U.S. Representative Gary Peters and his daughters. Now I truly understand how disgusted and outraged my parents were when an evangelical relative showed me photos of aborted fetuses when I was 10 […]

Actually, it’s more like the Koch brothers’ campaign… Terri Lynn Land can best be described as the U.S. Senate candidate in absentia. Unlike her Democratic opponent Gary Peters who has been touring the state talking to voters, Land hasn’t made public appearance in months, not one where she could be asked direct questions since she began her tepid campaign to […]

New polling by Clarity Campaign Labs shows Democrats Mark Schauer and Gary Peters with sizable leads over Republicans Rick Snyder and Terri Lynn Land in the statewide races for Governor and U.S. Senator among likely voters. Snyder’s approval rating is now less than 40% (39%) while nearly half of the voters polled (46%) disapprove of his performance. Schauer leads him […]