Billionaire-bashing in Michigan

When Michigan elected Democrat Carl Levin to the U.S. Senate in 1978, big labor still controlled Michigan politics. Now, 36 years later, Carl Levin is retiring and Michigan has a right-to-work law—but the battle to replace Levin looks a lot like previous Michigan campaigns.

As is usual, the Democrat, Gary Peters, hails from the Detroit area (traditionally more liberal) and the Republican, Terri Lynn Land, comes from Grand Rapids (on the more conservative, western side of the state). His mother was an organizer for the SEIU. Her parents ran the family business, a hotel and trailer park. He’s currently in Congress. She is a former two-term Michigan secretary of state.

Both candidates tout their support for small business. Land’s bus tour around the state often makes stops at local businesses, which her website and Twitter-feed tout after the fact. Democrats and Detroit-area journalists complain that she’s invisible on the campaign trail. Land, a member of a Christian Reformed Church, has the Michigan Right to Life endorsement. Peters, who voted for Obamacare as a U.S. representative, has the endorsement of the Michigan Association of Realtors.

Polls show a tight race following a campaign mostly waged on the air. According to a Wesleyan Media Center analysis, more than 7,200 Michigan Senate race ads ran in the first two weeks of September, with 58 percent of them paid for by outside groups, including the Democratic National Committee, Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, and the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity.

Over a week of TV watching, I saw grainy black-and-white ads attacking the evil Koch brothers (Charles and David Koch) paid for by Democrats, and grainy black-and-white ads attacking billionaire Tom Steyer, paid for by Republicans. The Holland, Mich., Sentinel editorialized that the ads seemed designed to accomplish one thing: “deciding whose mega-rich, out-of-state backers are the more odious.” NPR described the ad war as “a video chorus of billionaires bashing billionaires.”

But Land has now agreed to debate, although as September was ending the date was still uncertain. Expectations are low for the Republican: Back in May she addressed the Detroit Chamber of Commerce, and one reporter afterward wrote, “Land looked as if she were auditioning for a remake of Bambi Meets Godzilla.”

Michigan’s other big electoral contest is the governor’s race, which pits Republican incumbent Rick Snyder against former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer. Although many people credit Snyder with helping turn around Michigan’s economy, he made enemies in the process, especially among union members and public employees. One Democratic Governors Association ad receiving heavy play shows a suburban classroom teacher accusing Snyder of making cuts to education while rewarding his political appointees with pay raises. Bridge Magazine’s “truth squad” called the ad “foul,” but it continues to play.

Another ad from the Michigan Education Association received a “flagrant foul” from the truth squad. That ad shows cigar-smoking fat cats drinking champagne while driving in a limo. A narrator explains that Snyder cut extracurriculars like band, athletics, and art from schools so he could give money to CEOs. Will the ads be effective? Or will Michiganders credit Snyder with the state’s turnaround and be willing to give the self-proclaimed “one tough nerd” another four years?