Motown Mitt
Michigan’s Feb. 28 Republican presidential primary is almost a must-win for Mitt Romney. But to his credit the candidate is renewing his attack on the federal bailout of two of the state’s giant employers. In a Detroit News op-ed this week, Mr. Romney calls the Obama administration’s 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler “crony capitalism on a grand scale.”
The stakes for Mr. Romney in Michigan could hardly be higher. As the candidate reminds voters in a new television advertisement, he grew up in the state and is the son of the late George Romney, who served as Michigan’s governor in the 1960s. Born in Detroit, Mr. Romney parlayed his “favorite son” status into a victory in the 2008 Michigan GOP primary, even though he ended up losing the nomination to John McCain. Losing Michigan in 2012 would represent a significant setback for the candidate viewed by many as the inevitable Republican nominee.
The Obama bailouts, which followed initial bailouts by President George W. Bush in 2008, have been unpopular with conservative voters, even in Michigan. But the political risk for Mr. Romney is that Democrats and independents, who might favor the sweet deals for union workers included in the Obama rescues, can vote in the GOP primary. Mr. Romney’s chief opponent, Rick Santorum, also opposed the auto bailouts, but Mr. Romney has chosen to highlight the issue in Michigan. It is an encouraging sign, similar to Mr. Romney’s laudable decision last year to tell Nevadans, suffering through one of the country’s worst housing busts, that federal intervention was not the solution.
What’s still missing from the Romney message–and from this week’s op-ed–is a bold plan to create jobs. GOP voters are happy to see a candidate oppose Obama economic policy but are still waiting for Mr. Romney to promote a muscular policy of his own. They have a sense of what Mr. Romney is against. Now what is he for?
— James Freeman
Quote of the Day
Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or “progressive” platform have been enacted:
A “living wage” ordinance, far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors. A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average. A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members. Other government employee unions that do the same for their members. A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the poor and to government bureaucracies.
Would this be a shining city on a hill, exciting the admiration of all? We don’t have to guess, because there is such a city right here in our state: Detroit.
Detroit has been dubbed “the most liberal city in America” and each of these “progressive” policies is alive and well there. How have they worked out?
In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation’s 2nd poorest major city, just “edging out” Cleveland.
Could it be pure coincidence that the decline occurred over the same period in which union power, the city government bureaucracy, taxes and business regulations all multiplied? While correlation is not causation, it is striking that the decline in per capita income is exactly what classical economists predict would occur when wage controls are imposed and taxes are increased.–Jarrett Skorup writing at michigancapitalconfidential.com on Feb. 14.
Contraception and the Catholic Vote
The Obama administration’s mandate that religious institutions provide health insurance covering contraception has energized the GOP’s cultural conservative base, but a new Gallup poll suggests that it’s unlikely to sway independent voters in the fall.
Many Republicans hoped that the flap over the new health-care rule would help the party win more Catholic voters, who favored Barack Obama by nine points in 2008. However, most Catholics don’t seem to think any less of the president because of it. In the two weeks after the White House announced the rule, Mr. Obama’s approval rating among Catholics rose by four points to 49%.
It has since fallen to 46%, but Gallup notes that the drop is statistically insignificant. What’s more, Catholics who frequently attend church and those who don’t rate the president the same, suggesting that their degree of religiosity doesn’t affect their political views. Neither do the sermons by church leaders blasting the Obama administration for violating citizens’ freedom of religion and conscience.
In fact, the issue may have upset Christian evangelicals more than Catholics. A new Pew Research Center poll finds that 68% of evangelical Protestants favor exempting religious institutions from the rule, compared to 55% of Catholics and 44% of mainline Protestants. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has been using the issue on the campaign trail to shore up support among evangelicals. But the reality is that most evangelicals likely will vote Republican regardless of the candidate. Most independent and Catholic voters, on the other hand, appear more concerned with jobs and the economy. If Republicans want to win in the fall, they’d be better off preaching the gospel of economic growth than waging a fire-and-brimstone culture war.
— Allysia Finley
Santorum Still Surging
A new poll out of Michigan this morning shows former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum surging to a nine-point lead over Mitt Romney. Mitchell Research, a polling firm in East Lansing, conducted the survey for the Michigan Information & Research Service, a newsletter that covers state government and politics.
The Mitchell poll finds Mr. Santorum at 34% to Mr. Romney’s 25% as Michiganders prepare to vote in the state’s Feb. 28 GOP primary. Mr. Romney had enjoyed a 16-point lead over Mr. Santorum within the past two weeks, according to Mitchell survey data, but recent Santorum victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado have transformed the race in Michigan and elsewhere.
“[C]onservatives are uniting behind Santorum,” pollster Steven Mitchell tells the Detroit Free Press. “Now we will have to see if Santorum has the financial resources to compete against Romney’s big money in the state in which he was born and raised.”
The poll also brought more bad news for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as his support dropped to 5% from a recent 16% in the Wolverine State.
— James Freeman
Click Here to Read the Original Article: Mowtown Mitt in the New York Times