Kerry +10 in Michigan

[AndyTheMan]

I am in the conservative heartland of Michigan which is the southwestern part of the lower peninsula. This is probably the only region that will strongly support Bush. The East tends to be very Democratic and the northern area seems to be evenly split. I remember in 1996 when early returns had Clinton ahead of Dole in my county and the horrified television announcer said "Ottawa County has never gone democratic" Well, it didn't and therefore hell refused to freeze over for another day.

[AndyTheMan]

Vorlon, Thank you for your welcome! I have been looking at this site for a few months now and was so caught up in all the fascinating statistics that until now I didn't even realize there was a forum! From the polls I've heard on the radio this past weekend Kerry has the lead over Bush but when Nader is included his lead is slim. It could be close but I think Kerry will win the state because we have gone Democratic for the past three Presidential elections. The job situation is horrible right now with thousands of jobs going seemingly everyday. What is interesting is that Bush is being blamed for this when it is actually I think it is due to NAFTA. Perhaps he is blamed because of the Bush official's claim that exporting jobs is good and NAFTA didn't seem to have such a catastrophic impact on Michigan while Clinton was President.  There was even a story on ABC news about one town nearby where we lost a plant and the lifetime Republican mayor was seriously contemplating voting for the Democratic presidential nominee which he had never done before. As for the proposal to end affirmative action it is popular from what I have read and I think it may used by both sides as a "wedge issue" in the fall.

[AndyTheMan]

Al, that is it! Actually, I now live in Kent County and if you look at the map of Michigan cities from 2000 you can see my city is the only one for miles that went for Gore.

[AndyTheMan]

Al, that is it! Actually, I now live in Kent County and if you look at the map of Michigan cities from 2000 you can see my city is the only one for miles that went for Gore.

Grand Rapids?
Gore won Grand Rapids City by 2859 votes out of 73,756 votes cast.
Although for Kent County that's almost a Detroit level of Democrat support (Gore won just 38% in Kent County).
That corner of Michigan is very Republican...

You are right, Excellent! I think growing up in such a heavily Republican region perhaps made me far more critical of Republican (not necessarily conservative) ideology. I sometimes wonder if I would have been less liberal if I had been raised in one of the major Democratic regions of the state. Anyhow, it was much easier for me to see the errors of Republicans than Democrats.