Dems Turn Out in Snow Storm in Mt. Pleasant for Granholm

It wasn't the worst snow storm to hit Mt. Pleasant - but it wasn't the nicest night to be out on the slippery roads either. No matter -- Democrats in Mt. Pleasant wanted to see and hear Michigan's first woman governor talk about her plans for 2006. Almost 40 folks turned out at two locations in Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday night to hear the Governor tell them she needed their help to win re-election next year.

Although the streaming video technology wasn't the greatest, the creative ideas to diversify Michigan's economy and get Michigan's economy on the right track struck a welcome cord. Granhom took a decimated state budget under John Engler and made the tough choices the Republicans refused to make. It would have been easy to spend the first four years in office pointing fingers at the mess the Republicans had gotten us into. Instead she surrounded herself with creative and energetic folks who have constructed an effective set of programs that will make a world of difference both in the next few years and over the long haul.

The best the Republicans could come up with is the tired old bromide to cut taxes. While that might have been a good idea ten years ago, it is exactly the wrong thing to do now. The Mackinaw Center to Benefit the Rich hasn't come up with a new idea in years because it takes more than an ideology to move things forward. It takes a lot of REAL research and hard work (not phony BS) to come up with a plan to deal with the very complex set of factors facing Michigan today.

One of the difficulties of explaining complex plans, however, is they don't lend themselves to easy sound bites. Michigan's willingness to invest in laying the groundwork for a diverse economy could well decide if we can shake the Rust Belt moniker. The first Democratic Governor to lead us out of the Engler Dark Years faces a tough battle in 2006.

If Wednesday night is any indication, Granholm is off to a good start. She took a lemon and is making lemonade.