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. 420 Maynard Sc. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com ANDREW GROSSMAN ELAINA BUGLI Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-647-3336 734-764-O55 grossman@michigandaily.com bugli@michigandailycom CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom office hours:Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-2a.m. NewsTips news@michigandaily.co Corrections corrections@michigandaily.com Lettes to the Editor tothedaity@m~ichigandaiy.como PotographylDepartment phana@richigandail y.o m 734-764-0563 Arts Section artspage@michigandaily.com 734-763-0379 Editorial Page opinion@michigandaily.com 734-763-0379 Sports Section sports@michigandaily.com 734-764-8585 DisplaytSales display@michigandaily.com 734-764-0554 Classified Sales classified@michigandaily.com 734-764-0557 Online Sales onlineads@michigandaily.com 734-615-0135 Finance finance@michigandaily.com 734-763-3246 EDITORIAL STAFF Gabe Nelson Managing Editor nelson@michigandaily.com Chris Herring Managing News Editor herring@michigandaily.com SENIOR NEWS EDITORS: Emily Barton, Kelly Fraser, Lisa Haidostian, Andy Kroll Gary Graca Editorial Page Editor graca@michigandailycom ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS:Emmarie Huetteman, Emily Michels ASSISTANT EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Harun Buljina,Robert Soave Nate Sandals Managing Sports Editor sandals@michigandaily.com SENIORSPORTSEDITORS:DanFeldman,CourtneyRatkowiak, Ian Robinson, Andy Reid, Michael Eisenstein ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS:Nicole Auerbach,RuthLincoln, Chris Meszaros, Colt Rosensweig, Alex Prosperi, JasonKohler Michael Passman and Matt Emery ManagingArts Editors arts@michigandaily.com SENOR AR'' DIOrndon Cowvnra, Coi,. nemann~ vSNARTSEDITRS lakeGonbWhitneyown MarkSchultz,David Watnick RodrigoGaya ManagingPhotoEditor gaya@michigandaily.com SEN1IR PHOTO EDITORS: Jeremy Cho, Zachary Meisner ASSISTA NT PHOTO EDITOR S: Benji Dell, Rob Migrin, Clif Reeder, Chaneivon-Habsburg-Lothringen Allison Ghaman Managing Design Editor ghaman@michigandaily.com SENIOR DESIGN EDITORS: Bridget b'Donnell, Hillary Ruffe Bridget O'Donnell Managing Online Editor odonnell@michigandaily.com SENIOR ONLINE EDITORS: Tom Haynes JessicalVosgerchian Magazine Editor vosgerchian@michigandaily.com Ben Simon Multimedia Editor blrsimon@umich.edu Katherine Mitchell copy chief mitchkl@umich.edu ASSOCIATE COPY CHIEF: Zenaida Rivera BUSINESS STAFF Michael Schrotenboer Display Advertising Sales Manager .DISPLAY ADVERTISING ASSOCIATE MANAGERS: Daniel Newman. Christie Phillips Ryan Businski classifiedsalesManager Classified Sales Assistant Manager: Alison Thomas Marissa Gerber online Sales Manager Ben English Production DesignManager Production Assistant: Allie Santacreu Qaniel Cheung Finance Manager The Michigan Daily (ISsNt0745-967) is pubished Monday through Friday during the fall and winer terms by students at the University of Michigan.one copy is available free of charge to all read ss. AdditionalcopiesmaybepickedupattheDalysoffice for$2.SubscriptionsforfallIerm,startingin September, viaU.S.mail are $110. Winter term (January through April)is$115,yearlong (september through Apri)is $19s. University affiliates are subject toareduced subscription rate.On-campus subscriptions forfall term are $35. Subscriptions mustbe prepaid. The Michigan Daily isamemberof The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press. 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." 4