Statement: Bloggers are a force to be reckoned with.

I spent most of the weekend in Detroit at the Michigan Democratic State Convention and the rest of it catching up on lost sleep.

In a nutshell, parties hold conventions in August because our state constitution requires them to nominate candidates for the following 13 offices:

Three statewide offices: Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State; and

Two seats for each of the Supreme Court of Michigan, the University of Michigan Board of Regents, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, the Wayne State University Board of Governors, and the State Board of Education.

I have no idea why the 1963 Constitutional Convention came up with this Rube Goldberg contraption, but that's what we have to work with.