MI-EPIC/MRA: Romney 46% Obama 41%

[pbrower2a]

The best thing to glean from this poll is that Romney is pretty popular in Michigan and will likely bring the state close to being a tipping point state.

The Romney name remains popular in Michigan due to a Governor from the 1960s -- before the state became an economic disaster. Mitt Romney could make Michigan a single-digit win for President Obama. But that said, Michigan has an unusually-high number of African-Americans for a Northern state, only Maryland and perhaps Virginia (if you now consider Virginia a Northern state) having higher proportions of black people.   

[pbrower2a]

I look at this and have a good laugh; Democrats will be carrying Michigan for decades!

I guess a lot of Republicans thought the same thing about Virginia prior to november 2008.

"Longtime Republican state, haven't voted for a Democrat since LBJ in 1964. Sure thing."

     Or Vermont in 1992, which had only voted Democratic once in 168 years before that. If you look at it again in 2008, you see that it voted for Obama by more than 2-to-1. That state has changed its political allegiances quite a lot in a relatively short timeframe.

     Sometimes a state will trend dramatically for purely internal reasons. While Michigan will likely be a lean Democratic state for decades provided no major changes occur in the parties, it's silly to assume that that must be the case. Michigan is actually a rather likely candidate for trending significantly, seeing as how its historic automobile industry is proving increasingly insufficient to support the state's economy.

     Also, welcome to the forum.

The auto industry has been doing so badly in Michigan that agriculture will soon be the #1 industry.

[pbrower2a]

Didn't Romney pen the op/ed suggesting that the Detroit auto industry should be allowed to die?

That would probably be a kiss of death for his campaign in Michigan. Surely, Mike Huckabee would use it if he needed it.