2A -- Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2A - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Obama turns Michigan blue
MICHIGAN STATEWIDE VOTE
*Obama
51%na With 96%
of precincts
McCain reporting
41%
Al Gore and John Kerry both won Michigan, but neither turned the map of the
state as blue as Barack Obama did yesterday. Obama won all of southeast Michigan,
eking out wins in Jackson and Lenawee Counties, west and south of Ann Arbor.
George W. Bush carried both in 2000 and 2004, and Jackson County hasn't voted
for a Democrat since before 1980. Obama got 50.3 percent of the vote there. They
helped Obama carry the entire I-94 corridor, which runs from Wayne County in
the east to Berrien County in the southeast along the Indiana border. Even Kent
County, home of conservative Grand Rapids, went for the Democrat for the first
time since before 1980.
WAYNE COUNTY
In Wayne County, unprecedented levels of voter turnout
led to big gains for the Democratic Party. Obama and Biden
bested McCain and Palin by almost a3 -to-1 margin with all
precincts reporting.Voters in Waynefavored Senator Carl
Levin by an even greater margin, as he garnered more than
76 percent of the vote. Voters were so intent onvoting in
Detroit that one unidentified man, who had been walking
with his family to vote at Wayne Elementary School, was
hit by a stray bullet in the arm, but stil managed to cast
his vote.
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KENT COUNTY
While the state voted in overwhelming marginsfor Senator Barack
Obama and incumbent Democratic Senator Carl Levin, Kent County
produced much narrower victoriesfor the two candidates. In
Kent County, 49.4 percent of voters supported Obama, while 48.9
percent cast theirballot for John McCain. Across the state though,
the split was 57.lpercent for Obama and 41.3 percentfor McCain.
As for the Senate race, Levin captured 50.6 percent of the vote in
Kent County, while his opponent Jack Hooogendyk got 46 percent
Statewide, Levin sawa margin of victory of nearly 30 percent.
WASHTENAW COUNTY
In Ann Arbor's county, Democrats headed to the polls yesterday
in droves. WashtenawCounty saw a more than 65 percent turn-
out among its registered voterswith 95 percent of the precincts
reporting, while student-heavy precincts in the districts had a 45
percent turnout rate. As a whole, the countyfavored Obama with
70 percent oftthevote. But in student-heavy precincts, that number
jumped to more than 83 percent. Both Proposal land Proposal 2
showed greater margins in the student-heavy precincts (77 percent
and 81 percentrespectively), thaninthe whole county (71 percent
and 68 percent).
i
MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT
In rare upset,
Hathaway unseats
Mich. chief justice
Schauer claims U.S. House victory
Taylor is second
incumbent ousted
in three decades
By TREVOR CALERO
Daily StaffReporter
DETROIT -- In the last three
decades, incumbent Michigan
Supreme Court justices have only
lost twice.
One of those times was Tues-
day, when after a hard-fought
and expensive campaign season,
Wayne County Circuit Judge
Diane Hathaway defeated Chief
Justice Cliff Taylor last night by a
surprising margin - 48 percent to
Taylor's 39 percent.
Hathaway's win reduces a 5-2
Republican majority in the court
to 4-3.
"I credit (the win) to the people
of the state of Michigan because
they were so ready for a change
on our Michigan Supreme Court,"
Hathaway said. "I'm going to
bring fairness, and impartiality,
and integrity back to our Michi-
gan Supreme Court."
Hathaway, a Detroit native and
daughter of a Detroit police offi-
cer, received her J.D. from Detroit
College of Lawin1987.
Upon graduating, she served as
Macomb County Assistant Pros-
ecutor until 1993, at which point
she was elected to her current
position as a judge for Michigan's
3rd District Circuit Court.
Taylor has served on the state's
Supreme Court for more than 10
years, since he was appointed by
former Gov. John Engler in 1997
to fill a vacant seat. A year later,
Taylor was elected to continue the
duration of the term, and was re-
elected two years later to an eight-
year term. Taylor has served as
Chief Justice since 2005.
Hathaway was endorsed by
organizations including the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor and Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations,
the Michigan Nurses Association
and the United Auto Workers, as
well as by Democratic politicians
including senators Carl Levin and
Debbie Stabenow.
Both major newspapers in the
state endorsed Taylor. The Detroit
News said he has changed the
direction of the court for the bet-
ter, and the Detroit Free Press said
Taylor is "a problem on the high
court," but still a better option
than his opponent.
Taylor said he didn't believe
Hathaway deserved to have her
name on the ballot, and only got
this far in the electoral process
because of her last name, which
is the same as several previous
Wayne County judges. Hatha-
way's ex-husband is former Wayne
County Circuit Judge Richard
Hathaway.
But even against so much oppo-
sition and so many accusations,
Hathaway still managed to walk
away with the victory.
From the start, the race for
the state's highest court has been
littered with negative adver-
tisements, paid for mostly by inde-
pendent spenders.
As of Oct. 27, the Michigan
Democratic State Central Commit-
tee and the Michigan Chamber of
Commerce spent over $1,783,000
"for television advertisements that
seek to define the record, qualifica-
tions and character of one candi-
date over the other," according to
a news report issued by the Michi-
gan Campaign Finance Network.
But since the chamber and the
Democratic Party are independent
of both campaigns, and the ads
don't mention voting, the organi-
zations aren't required to disclose
where the financing came from.
Rich Robinson, executive direc-
tor of the MCFN, said this "off the
books" spending presents a prob-
lem because an individual or inter-
est group could secretly finance an
advertisement to market a candi-
date.
"That has considerable poten-
tial for conflict of interest, and
it certainly creates a troubling
appearance," Robinson said in an
interview last week.
Dem. holds narrow
lead over incumbent
U.S. Rep. Walberg
By LINDY STEVENS
Daily StaffReporter
Sen. Mark Schauer (D-Battle
Creek) declared victory over one-
term Republican incumbent Tim
Walberg of Tipton in the race for a
seat in the U.S. House of Represen-
tatives in Michigan's 7th District
Tuesday.
Schauer had a 4,365-vote lead as
of 3 a.m. this morning, with 91 per-
cent of precincts reporting.
Early precinct results that kept
the candidates deadlocked well into
the night before Schauer made his
victory speech. Walberg had yet to
concede the race early this morning.
Edging out a win with 51 percent
of the vote in 2006, Walberg's ear-
lier narrow victory in the district
that includes Jackson, Calhoun and
parts of Washtenaw County attract-
ed attention from the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Commit-
tee and made his seat a primary tar-
get for the 2008 election cycle.
Beginning with four candidates
vying for the Democratic nomina-
tion in the 7th District this year,
Schauer secured the Party nod after
an August primary race against
paigntrail"
Raising more than $1.9 mil-
lion, Schauer outspent Walberg
by nearly $300,000 according to
recent campaign finance reports
and received strong support from
the DCCC throughout his cam-
paign. His efforts were matched
by an aggressive run from Walberg,
who was largely backed by the Club
for Growth, a conservative anti-
tax group that helped him defeat
Republican incumbent Joe Schwarz
in the 2006 primary and eventually
go on to secure the 7th District seat.
AsDemocratic Minority Leaderin
the State Senate, Schauer currently
represents Michigan's 19th District
and served three terms in the State
House of Representatives starting
in 1996. Prior to his time in Lansing,
Schauer was involved in local politics
and served on the Battle Creek City
Commission, part of the district he'll
represent in the U.S. House.
Running aggressive attack ads
comparing Schauer to filmmaker
Michael Moore, citing his "radical
liberal views," in the weeks preced-
ing the election, Walberg's efforts
came up short at the polls on Tues-
day. The one-term Republican was
criticized throughout his campaign
for earlier statements made in sup-
port of drilling for oil in the Great
Lakes and comparing the city of
Detroit to the situation in Iraq dur-
ing his first termin the House.
Mark Schauer and his wife, Christine, appear at a victory party last night. Schauer
claimed defeat over Republican incumbent Tim Walberg in the race for Michigan's
7th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic opponent Sharon Reni-
er, who nearly defeated Walberg in
the 2006 general election.
Topping out at nearly $3.5 mil-
lion spent between the candidates,
the race proved to be one of most
contentious in the state. Schauer
campaigned throughout the district
until well after polls closed on Tues-
day night, arriving late to his own
victory party.
"We knew it was going to be a
tough fight going in and we had a
plan that we executed just about as
well as we could," said Zach Pohl,
Schauer's communications advisor.
With an exhaustive final push
and alead goinginto Tuesday's elec-
tion, Pohl said Schauer's run for the
House seat "left it all on the cam-
Il District 9, Peters topples Klollenberg
Democrat rides wave
of party support to
comfortable victory
By JACOB SMILOVITZ
Daily StaffReporter
TROY, Mich. - In one of many
races that added to Democratic
majorities in Congress yesterday,
challenger Gary Peters beat out eight-
term Republican incumbent Rep.
Joe Knollenberg yesterday. Peters, a
former Michigan state senator, was
leading Knollenberg by a 51-43 mar-
gin with 82 percent of the precincts
reporting, as of late Tuesday night.
. In a brief acceptance speech before
Oakland County Democrats at the
Troy Hiltonlate Tuesdaynight,Peters
said his election to Congress was only
a tiny wave in a nationwide current.
"I'm just so honored to be here
with you, to be part of a bigger move-
ment across America that elected
Barack Obama," he said.
Peters said that because of the
efforts of his supporters, he can now
go to Washington to help the people
of Michigan.
"Thankstoyou,we'llbeabletorein-
vest in our economy to get Michigan
moving forward again," Peters said to
a roar from the crowd. "Thanks to the
work of everybody in this room, we'll
be able to fight for the auto industry
and not forthe oil companies'
Peters thanked his family and
supporters for their work through-
out the campaign, which he charac-
terized as a grassroots effort.
He said the campaign had
knocked on almost 400,000 doors
and made over 300,000 phone calls,
and had 5,700 individual contribu-
tors to the campaign. Peters ended
his speech abruptly, sensing that his
supporters in the room had more
interestinhearingaspeechfrompres-.
ident-elect Sen. Barack Obama, who is
slated to become the nation's first black
president.
The 9th District, which includes
some of Detroit's wealthiest suburbs,
like Bloomfield Hills and Birming-
ham, had a history of supporting
Republican candidates like Knol-
lenberg, who'd represented the area
since 1992. It twice voted for Presi-
dent George W. Bush, though by slim
margins both times.
Knollenberg's seat had been long
targeted by Democratic officials. In
2006, Democratic challenger Nancy
Skinner lost to Knollenberg by five
percent Riding the wave of support
for Democratic Presidentialnominee
Barack Obama in Michigan and the
McCain campaign's decision to pull
resources out of the state, the 9th
District was considered especially
vulnerable for Republicansthis year.
In an interview after the party,
Peters said he was going to be an
aggressive advocate for the auto
industry in Washington.
"We got the best workers; we got
great Universities like the University
of Michigan and great students," he
said. "To capitalize on'that strength
is our opportunity to be the world
leader in the auto industry."
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