6A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 5, 1998 i Granholm: I earned spot on merits DETROIT (AP) - Michigan's attorney general- elect Jennifer Granholm said yesterday that she's thrilled to be the first woman to hold the spot, but stressed that she won it for her qualifications, not her chromosomes. "I have been saying all along that I am the most qualified person for this position and I have very good credentials," said Granholm, Wayne County's corporation counsel. "This is not a case where we were asking some- body to bend the rules so we could sneak someone in." Still Granholm says she's pleased to blaze a trail. "The great news about breaking through the glass ceiling, for all of us, is that it can never be replaced," she said. Granholm woke yesterday morning to find the returns clear in her race against Republican John Smietanka. On election night, she went to sleep before the race was over. But by yesterday afternoon, with 99 percent of precincts counted, Granholm had 52 percent to Smietanka's 48 percent. Granholm said she received a congratulatory call from outgoing Attorney General Frank Kelley in his hospital bed. Kelley, who will retire at the end of the "l...am the most qua lified for this position and I have very good credentials' - Jennifer Granholm Michigan Attorney General-Elect year, is recovering from triple bypass surgery. Granholm was a toddler when Kelley was first appointed attorney general in 1961. She said yester- day that Kelley deserves some of the credit for her victory because he appeared in a Granholm ad that criticized Republican attacks against her. "The combination of him as a trusted consumer advocate saying this is a dishonest ad ... with him saying 'I will endorse Jennifer Granholm,' that was a great boost to the campaign," she said. Granholm said she regretted the negative cam- paigning that plagued the attorney general race, including accusations by Republicans that she was inflating her resume. Smietanka was also angered by Democratic ads, saying they unfairly brought up some late child support payments and lied about the amount he donated to his own campaign. "I wish the parties could get together to agree that's not the way to go," Granholm said. "We need to run campaigns where we stress positive issues ... rather than trashing another candidate." Smietanka's spokesperson, Jennifer Murray, said Smietanka was spending time with his family yester- day. "John wishes Jennifer Granholm and her family well, and he will do whatever he can to make sure the attorney general's office works well for the people of Michigan," she said. Granholm said she will wrap up her work in Wayne County over the next few months at the same time she is learning about the attorney general's office. She wa: vague about specific changes she plans to make. Instead, she said she wants to meet with people working in the office and involve them in her deci- sions. Granholm, who lives in Northville, said she plans to commute to Lansing and also work some days in the attorney general's office in Detroit. The job comes with a driver; Granholm said she'll equip the car with a phone and a laptop computer so she can work during her commute. Michigan Democratic Attorney Generalelect Jennifer Granhoim greets supporters at her election night headquarters in Detroit Tuesday night. Ticket sp WASHINGTON (AP) - Michigan's congressional Democrats said they were re-elected by wide margins because their message got out despite President Clinton's troubles and the Republican sweep of the governorship and state Legislature. Nationally, the Republicans have a slender majority in the U.S. House. But not in Michigan where ticket splitters allow many congressional Democrats to rack up electoral margins well above their party base. All 10 Democratic incumbents to the U.S. House were returned to office despite an aggressive adver- tising campaign by the Republican state and national parties to turn the tide in several races. The six Republican incumbents won by even )litters put Dems in House * larger margins. Take first-term representative Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) for example, who represents the 8th District reaching from Lansing to the outskirts of Flint and Ann Arbor. Gov. John Engler car- ried every county in her district, yet she defeated her Republican opponent by an 18-point margin. Ginny Bugajski voted for both Engler and Stabenow. "She has been so visible in the district. I usually vote straight Republican. But I like the way she's han- dled herself. She seems very commit- ted," said the Brighton mother of five. A similar ticket-splitting pattern was evident in other congressional races Republicans targeted. Representative David Bonior (D-Mt. Clemens), the No. 2 Democrat in the House, won by 52 percent of the vote - the slimmest margin of any of the Democrats. Rep. Sander Levin (D- Southfield) won by a 14-point margin and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) had a 19-point margin. All three dis- tricts also represented constituents that solidly elected Engler. Most Michiganders also said Clinton was not a factor in their vote for Congress, according to an exit poll con- ducted by Voter News Service. "The Republicans spent their time talking about impeaching the president" and trying to tag other Democrats with the president's problems, representative John Dingell (D-Dearborn), dean of Michigan's congressional Democrats, said yesterday. "People just didn't buy it." Themes in the Democrat's message included improving health care and shoring up Social Security. "There was a feeling the nation needs to tackle problems that are relevant to people's lives," Levin said. The next threat to House Democrats is the expected loss of one of the state's 16 congressional seats after the 2000 cen- sus. Redistricting is much more likely, change boundaries in Democratic subu- ban districts near Detroit. Republicans spent hundreds of thou- sands of dollars in advertising against Levin, Bonior and Stupak. The Levin campaign estimated that TV attack ads paid for by the national Republican Party topped $700,000 and, combined with several hundred thousand dollars in ads run by Touma, surpassed what Levin spent on TV ads. vKSupport "Warmthe Children '98" SI n u Cover proceeds Fri., Nov.13 S donated to help kids in need. Join ust . ._. 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