Michigan gubernatorial election, 2006

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The Michigan gubernatorial election of 2006 was one of the 36 U.S. gubernatorial elections held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm was re-elected over Republican businessman Dick DeVos.

Incumbent Governor Jennifer Granholm has been widely seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party. However, due in large part to a weak economy and high unemployment, her popularity has plummeted since she took office in 2003. In August 2006, her approval rating was 47 percent.^[1]

No high-profile Republican candidate had entered the race until former Alticor president Dick DeVos, a son of billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos^[2], declared his candidacy on June 2, 2005 during a Chamber of Commerce conference on Mackinac Island.

DeVos, a multimillionaire, is the husband of former Michigan Republican Party chairman Betsy DeVos. Together, the DeVos family is listed among the biggest Republican campaign contributors during the 2004 election cycle.^[3]

The DeVos campaign has made a major issue of the state's economy. Granholm has insisted that her policies have saved thousands of jobs, while attacking DeVos's partisanship, wealth, and tenure at Alticor.

Granholm won re-election, defeating DeVos by a 56% to 42% margin.

Contents 1 Candidates 1.1 Defeated primary candidate 2 Primary contests 3 Criticisms of Governor Granholm 4 Criticisms of the DeVos campaign 5 Lieutenant governor candidates 6 Tax statements for 2006 candidates 7 Campaign ads 8 The Detroit Effect 9 Notable endorsements 9.1 Granholm endorsements 9.2 DeVos endorsements 9.3 No endorsements 10 Debates 10.1 WKAR-TV debate 10.2 WOOD-TV debate 10.3 WXYZ-TV debate 11 Election results 12 Polling 13 See also 14 External links 15 References

[edit] Candidates

• Democrat Jennifer Granholm, incumbent governor and former attorney general
• Republican Dick DeVos, former Alticor/Amway president
• Libertarian Greg Creswell
• Green Party Douglas Campbell
• Constitution Party (listed on ballot as U.S. Taxpayers Party) Bhagwan Dashairya

[edit] Defeated primary candidate

• Republican Dr. Louis Boven, a Holland, MI chiropractor, was running a write-in campaign for the Republican primary. Boven tried to make the primary ballot but fell short of the 15,000 signatures needed to have a name placed on the ballot for governor.

[edit] Primary contests

Granholm had no opposition in the primary election, which was held August 8. DeVos was challenged by write-in candidate Dr. Louis Boven.

DeVos was originally facing two other Republicans; state Representative Jack Hoogendyk of Portage and state Senator Nancy Cassis of Novi, both dropped out by summer 2005. A political unknown, Louis Boven tried to challenge him in the primary, but failed to meet Michigan election requirements to get on the ballot. Boven later ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign.

[edit] Criticisms of Governor Granholm

Opponents of Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm allege that every other state has gained jobs over the last year except Michigan, which has suffered due to close ties with automobile and other manufacturing industries. Critics of DeVos are quick to respond that this cannot be solely Granholm's fault, because the Republicans have control of both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Senate and DeVos was a major contributor to Bush and the national GOP for years. On August 23, 2006, DeVos criticized Bush for his inaction in meeting with the U.S. automakers. ^[4] Bush did announce afterwards that he will meet with automakers after the November election.^[5]

Granholm has also been attacked for allegedly supporting Michigan's single business tax (SBT), something that no other state uses. However, Granholm has publicly stated that she does not support the SBT, but rather opposed plans by the Republican-controlled legislature to eliminate the tax without replacing the lost revenue.

DeVos complained, on March 9, 2006, that a public service announcement telling residents who to contact if they cannot afford to pay their heating costs during Michigan's freezing winter, produced by DTE Energy Co. and given by Granholm is in his opinion a Granholm campaign commercial in disguise. [1] However, his complaint to Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land did not spark legal action.

[edit] Criticisms of the DeVos campaign

Many of DeVos' critics, including some conservatives, propose that his leadership of highly controversial Alticor, the parent company of Amway and Quixtar, the world's largest multi-level marketing organization, should disqualify him from holding public office at all. Critics of DeVos also claim that under his management Alticor outsourced 1,400 jobs to China. However, the DeVos campaign has maintained that more than 300 high paying jobs were created in Michigan to support the expansion of Alticor into China, and no product produced in China is even shipped to the United States. DeVos also says that no American job went to a Chinese worker. This would show that Alticor has not directly outsourced jobs, but is growing into a global company. It is unclear whether the company considered exporting goods from Michigan to China.

After initially opposing Governor Granholm's policy of ordering the lowering of flags at half-staff to honor Michigan soldiers who died in action in the Iraq War, DeVos reversed himself on June 7 after receiving several complaints from veterans and their families. [2]

While DeVos has been relatively open about discussing economic issues, but as Detroit News columnist Laura Berman claims, he has been elusive and coy when asked about social issues such as reproductive rights. [3] DeVos has also been silent on environmental issues.[4]

He does support the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.[5] In an interview at a Catholic radio station, DeVos said he would be thrilled if Roe vs. Wade was overturned.[6]

DeVos' plan to eliminate a tax on business equipment which funds local governments and schools raised the ire of local officials.[7]

DeVos' views led some Republicans to support Granholm instead.[8]

[edit] Lieutenant governor candidates

Incumbent Lieutenant Governor John D. Cherry is Granholm's running mate on the Democratic side.

On the Republican side, DeVos selected former State Representative and Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson as his running mate on August 14.[9].

Other running mates are Scotty Boman for the Libertarian Party[10], David Skrbina for the Green Party[11] and Carl Oehling for the Constitution Party[12].

[edit] Tax statements for 2006 candidates

Granholm and her husband earned about $178,000 last year in gross income and paid $35,000 in state and federal taxes, according to published 2005 tax returns.[13] DeVos has not disclosed his personal tax statements. Without releasing actual documents, it is unclear whether the information contained in the tax statements would reveal any conflicts of interest for DeVos as governor of Michigan. A conflict did emerge previously involving the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids of which DeVos is a partial owner, due to some conferences the state government has held there. [14] Michigan Democratic Party chairman Mark Brewer and the Granholm campaign have criticized the DeVoses for not releasing his tax returns. DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said voters are more worried about the economy than what's being paid in taxes.[15]

[edit] Campaign ads

DeVos has spent at least $39 million in campaign ads while the Granholm campaign spent at least $13.8 million so far. The Michigan Democratic Party spent at least $10 million on Granholm's behalf. The campaign is the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in Michigan history. The DeVos ads have proven effective in giving him name recognition which shows in the polls. Because of the funds DeVos spent out of his own pockets, he is not eligible for public funds which the Granholm campaign is eligible for.[16]

A political ad aired by the DeVos campaign in late July raised the ire of the Detroit Free Press [17] and Lansing State Journal [18] newspapers alleging selective editing of their newspaper articles in a negative fashion to Granholm.

In September of 2006, the DeVos campaign asked the media to stop airing anti-DeVos ads created by the Democratic party (representing Jennifer Granholm). The CBS affiliate in Cadillac, Michigan is the only known television station to stop airing the ad.[19][20]

Both campaigns are making extensive use of the Internet to promote their candidate and criticize the opponent.[21]

In a controversial move, the Michigan Republican Party issued a mailing blaming Granholm for a triple murder committed by two people one of whom was mistakenly paroled. The murders led to changes in procedures and the firing of several parole workers.[22]

[edit] The Detroit Effect

On August 25, 2006, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pledged to actively campaign for Granholm and utilize the campaign team which got him re-elected as mayor [23]. The Michigan Democratic Party held their state convention in city of Detroit at Cobo Hall while the Michigan Republican Party held their convention in the City of Novi in Oakland County at the new Rock Financial Showplace.

[edit] Notable endorsements

[edit] Granholm endorsements

• Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
• Many Michigan Teamsters Unions [24]
• Former boxer Muhammad Ali [25]
• Michigan Fraternal Order of Police [26]
• Michigan League of Conservation Voters [27]
• The Sierra Club [28]
• Michigan Nurses Association[29]
• EMILY's List[30]
• Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts [31]
• The Alpena News [32]
• The Ann Arbor News [33]
• The Battle Creek Enquirer [34]
• The Bay City Times [35]
• The Detroit Free Press [36]
• The Flint Journal [37]
• The Grand Haven Tribune [38]
• Greenville Daily News [39]
• The Huron Daily Tribune[40]
• The Kalamazoo Gazette [41]
• The Lansing State Journal[42]
• Ludington Daily News [43]
• Macomb Evening News [44]
• The Michigan Daily[45]
• The Muskegon Chronicle[46]
• The Petoskey News-Review[47]
• The Port Huron Times-Herald[48]
• The Saginaw News[49]
• The State News[50]
• Sturgis Journal [51]
• The Traverse City Record-Eagle[52]

[edit] DeVos endorsements

• Rudolph W. Giuliani [53]
• Michigan Chamber of Commerce [54]
• Michigan Farm Bureau [55]
• Michigan Association of Realtors [56]
• Police Officers Association of Michigan [57]
• Lee Iacocca[58]
• Michigan Right to Life [59]
• Michigan Bankers Association [60]
• American Bikers Aiming Toward Education [61]
• The Adrian Daily Telegram [62]
• The Detroit News [63]
• The Grand Rapids Press [64]
• The Jackson Citizen-Patriot[65]
• Livingston County Daily Press [66]
• The Macomb Daily [67]
• The Oakland Press [68]
• St. Joseph Herald-Palladium [69]

[edit] No endorsements

• Michigan Manufacturers Association [70]
• Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce [71]
• The Midland Daily News[72]

[edit] Debates

The DeVos and Granholm campaigns have agreed to three televised debates.[73] Granholm and DeVos appeared together October 12 at the Detroit Economic Club in which each candidate delivered their job plans.[74]

[edit] WKAR-TV debate

The first one was October 2 at WKAR-TV in East Lansing.[75] Minor party candidates were not invited to the WKAR debate because none of them met the 5% threshold of support in polls. [76] There were no rules in this debate. Both candidates spent the hour trading charges and countercharges. Detroit News pollster Ed Sarpolus indicated that there was no clear winner in the debate, but Bill Rustem, senior vice president of the nonpartisan policy firm Public Sector Consultants in Lansing, favored Granholm.[77] No major gaffes or zingers came out in the debate. Some of the positions were made clear on stem cell research[78] and abortion.[79] One minor zinger was made by Granholm about DeVos' investment in a chain of nursing homes which abused its patients.[80][81]

[edit] WOOD-TV debate

The second was October 10 at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids. This debate was more structured than the first debate. DeVos was more aggressive than before, declaring that Granholm had lied about him having a controlling stake in Alterra Health Care, an elder-care company that suppressed information about the abuse of residents by its employees. [82] According to SEC filings, DeVos and his investment partners jointly owned 40% of Alterra stock totalling $173 million. [83] The chairman of Alterra's board, while a close associate of DeVos, nevertheless maintains that DeVos had no part of running the company himself. [84]

DeVos also asserted that he had convinced President Bush to set a date to meet with the three major Michigan auto companies. Granholm responded that she didn't believe that was true. DeVos admitted after the debate that he misspoke; the President agreed to have a meeting at some point after the election, but did not confirm a date. [85] On October 24, two weeks after this debate was held, a mid-November date was set for the meeting.[86]

[edit] WXYZ-TV debate

The third televised debate was October 16 at WXYZ-TV in Southfield. Unlike the previous debates, this one had an invited studio audience of 30 undecided voters, some of whom asked questions to the candidates.[87] The candidates sparred on various issues including college tuition, Canadian trash, business taxes, President Bush and negative ads.[88]

During the opening statements of the third debate, Gov. Granholm attacked Devos for using pictures of dead children as a campaign tool against her. However, it has come to show that Devos was not the person using the pictures, but supporters of him, who were cheering for him outside of the debate studio. Detroit News columnist Laura Berman believed this was in bad taste for Gov. Granholm to attack DeVos. In truth the ads paid for by the DeVos campaign do not show any children. [89].

[edit] Election results

The following results are official.[90]

2006 gubernatorial election, Michigan
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jennifer Granholm (inc.)	2,142,513	56.3	+4.9
	Republican	Dick DeVos	1,608,086	42.3	-5.1
	Libertarian	Greg Creswell	23,524	0.6	n/a
	Green	Douglas Campbell	20,009	0.5	-0.3
	Constitution	Bhagwan Dashairya	7,087	0.2	-0.3
	none	Write-in candidates	37	0.0	n/a
Majority			534,427	14.0
Turnout			3,801,256
	Democratic hold		Swing

[edit] Polling

DeVos, buoyed by the political ads he ran, led in the polls for most of the Summer. DeVos' lead eroded when Granholm ads started running and Granholm has built up a lead as voters found out more about the candidates culminating in the three debates.

Source	Date	Granholm (D)	DeVos (R)	Creswell (L)	Campbell (G)	Dashairya (T)
EPIC-MRA	Nov 6, 2006	49%	42%
Strategic Vision	Nov 6, 2006	52%	42%	(no option)	(no option)	(no option)
Mason-Dixon	Nov 5, 2006	52%	38%	0-2%	0-2%	0-2%
Survey USA	Nov 5, 2006	51%	45%	2%	1%	1%
Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll	Nov 5, 2006	54%	41%
EPIC-MRA	Nov 3, 2006	49%	42%
EPIC-MRA	Nov 2, 2006	52%	43%
Strategic Vision	Nov 2, 2006	50%	42%	(no option)	(no option)	(no option)
EPIC-MRA	Oct 31, 2006	52%	42%
Zogby/WSJ	Oct 31, 2006	51.6%	42.7%	0-5.7%	0-5.7%	0-5.7%
EPIC-MRA	Oct 27, 2006	48%	43%	1%	1%
Research 2000	Oct 25, 2006	50%	40%
Survey USA	Oct 25, 2006	52%	45%	1%	1%
Rasmussen	Oct 25, 2006	53%	42%
Strategic Vision	Oct 24, 2006	47%	43%
Zogby/WSJ	Oct 19, 2006	50.6%	44.1%
Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll	Oct 15, 2006	49%	41%
EPIC-MRA(raw data)	Oct 13, 2006	51%	42%	2%
Survey USA	Oct 9, 2006	50%	45%	1%	1%	1%
Rasmussen	Oct 8, 2006	49%	42%
EPIC-MRA	Oct 5, 2006	46%	40%	1%	1%
Zogby/WSJ	Sept 28, 2006	49.9%	40.8%
Strategic Vision	Sept 20, 2006	47%	46%
Survey USA	Sept 18, 2006	47%	47%	1%	2%	1%
EPIC-MRA	Sept. 14, 2006	50%	42%
Zogby/WSJ	Sept. 11, 2006	49.4%	44.0%
Rasmussen	Sept. 7, 2006	46%	48%
Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll	Sept. 3, 2006	46%	44%
Strategic Vision	August 29, 2006	48%	43%
Zogby/WSJ	August 28, 2006	50.8%	43.6%
EPIC-MRA	August 23, 2006	49%	42%	3%
Survey USA	August 22, 2006	47%	47%
Rasmussen	August 16, 2006	47%	46%
EPIC-MRA	August 16, 2006	50%	47%
Survey USA	August 8, 2006	42%	50%	6%
Rasmussen	August 1, 2006	42%	48%
Strategic Vision	July 27, 2006	44%	48%
EPIC-MRA	July 26, 2006	47%	44%
Zogby/WSJ	July 24, 2006	50.5%	44.4%
Free Press-Local 4 Michigan Poll	July 15, 2006	42%	47%
Zogby/WSJ	June 21, 2006	48.1%	46.2%
EPIC-MRA	June 21, 2006	44%	46%
Strategic Vision	June 21, 2006	41%	48%
Rasmussen	June 14, 2006	44%	42%
EPIC-MRA	June 12, 2006	40%	48%
Strategic Vision	May 24, 2006	42%	45%
EPIC-MRA	May 11, 2006	45%	46%
MRG of Lansing	May 1-9, 2006	43%	44%
Rasmussen	May 5, 2006	44%	43%
Strategic Vision	April 21, 2006	43%	42%
EPIC-MRA	April 11, 2006	43%	43%
Rasmussen	March 27, 2006	44%	44%
MRG of Lansing	March 22, 2006	43%	41%
Strategic Vision	March 15, 2006	50%	33%
EPIC-MRA	March 9, 2006	51%	41%
Rasmussen	Feb 14, 2006	44%	43%
EPIC-MRA	Feb 12, 2006	53%	36%
Strategic Vision	Feb 3, 2006	48%	34%
Rasmussen	Jan 20, 2006	49%	38%
Strategic Vision	Dec 22, 2005	46%	35%
Rasmussen	Dec 2, 2005	48%	36%
EPIC-MRA	Nov 29, 2005	58%	35%
Strategic Vision	Nov 21, 2005	44%	33%
EPIC-MRA	Oct 25, 2005	53%	30%
Strategic Vision	Oct 25, 2005	46%	35%
Strategic Vision	Sept 29, 2005	47%	33%

[edit] See also

• U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2006

[edit] External links

• See Dick and Jen Run by Tim Skubick from the University of Michigan Press
• Granholm for Governor campaign Website
• Creswell for Governor campaign Website
• Campbell for Governor campaign Website
• Dashairya for Governor campaign Website
• Dr. Louis Boven for Governor campaign Website

[edit] References