Michigan Primary Highlights Economy

by Seth Michaels, Jan 16, 2008

Last night, former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) won the Republican primary in Michigan with 39 percent of the vote. His win reveals less about his own campaign and more about the mood of the state and the country.

The economy is a growing concern for voters everywhere, and especially so in Michigan. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Wherever the candidates go, job security and the threat of inflation are the political topics people most want to discuss. Most voters are highly uncertain about who, if anyone, can get this state moving again.

Romney turned his message to the economy, and voters responded. According to exit polls, 55 percent of voters in the primary said the economy was their most important issue. Romney did well among all categories of voters, but among those whose top concern was the economy, he won 41 percent to Sen. John McCain’s 29 percent.

Romney has begun to adopt the message of change that’s driving high turnout in the Democratic primaries. At his Michigan headquarters last night, supporters waved signs that read “Change begins with us” that are remarkably similar to the “Change we can believe in” signs that have been the trademark of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign.

Unfortunately for Romney, the reality of his record doesn’t match his rhetoric on the economy. As governor, Romney vetoed a minimum wage hike passed by the Massachusetts Legislature, breaking a campaign promise.

Romney also said that Michigan is facing a “one-state recession.” The reality, though, is that Michigan is being hit by the same forces that put working families at risk around the country: stagnant wages, economic insecurity, eroding benefits and pensions. For more on the challenges facing our economy and the right solutions, check out Harold Meyerson in today’s Washington Post.

As blogger Ezra Klein puts it, Romney’s co-opting of the change message is, shall we say, dubious:

[H]e said “the lobbyists in Washington are worried tonight, because they know things are going to change.” Change to what? Are they anxious about whether their office furniture can actually fit in the White House, and fretting over the need to purchase smaller desks?

Members of union households made up 28 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, according to exit polls, and those voters split evenly between McCain and Romney, who each won 33 percent of these voters.

On the Democratic side, union household voters made up 48 percent of the vote. Due to a controversial decision to move up the Michigan primary to January, no delegates will be allowed from Michigan at the Democratic convention, and Obama and Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) did not appear on the ballot. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) won the Democratic primary, with 56 percent among both union household members and others.

For more analysis of the primary and the political scene in Michigan, visit Blogging for Michigan, Michigan Liberal, Michigan Messenger and Progress Michigan. Blogger Julielyn Gibbons of Progress Michigan spent yesterday blogging about the Michigan State AFL-CIO’s successful effort to bring 3,500 labor activists to the polls to assist voters and fight back a potential anti-union petition drive.

For more information on the presidential race, visit Working Families Vote 2008.

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