Michigan's GOP Primary

Today Michigan Republicans go to the polls in what appears to be a battle between hometown boy Mitt Romney and the resurgent Sen. McCain. (Due to a schoolboys game of chicken between the Michigan democrats and the national party, Michigan Democrats will have no voice in selecting a candidate.) According to local pundits McCain is gaining on Romney and may well beat him, but neither candidate is drawing enthusiastic supporters and neither has had much success convincing Michiganders they have a plan to cure the state's economic ills.

There is something richly ironic about Michigan Republicans being turned off by the candidates who preach the same message that helped sink the state's economy. So called free trade forced us into competition with third world countries. Resistance to national health care undermined our auto industries fight against Japanese imports and Canadian factories. Deregulation aided and abetted a foreclosure boom. Tax cuts left the state's infrastructure in a shambles. One wonders if any local GOPers are connecting the dots.