We're counting down the days, not weeks, now. Twenty days to the election. MI voter registration closed last week. Last Sunday, Schauer and Snyder had the only debate they'll have; prospects of any other debates between candidates for other offices (senator, attorney general) look very slim.
As informed observers have been saying for months, it's going to come down to turnout. That's one of kos' favorite sayings, anyway: "When we vote, we win." The MI Democratic Party seems to have a pretty good ground game in motion; a couple of weeks back already, they (we) had contacted almost half of the usual likely Democratic voters who didn't vote in 2010. I'm assuming that the rate of contact is rapidly growing at this point, as more and more canvassers and callers get involved.
Still, there may be some room for persuasion. So if it were up to you, what do you think are the best issues for Schauer to challenge Snyder on? I know, there are so many. But surely there are some standouts. Here are some that come quickly to mind for me:
--Signing the revised Emergency Manager law after the voters rejected it, in the 2012 election. [link to important overview of the EM process]
--Supporting the bankruptcy filing for Detroit.
--Signing the Right to Work legislation (after indicating it wasn't an issue "high on his agenda.")
--Raising taxes on ordinary people (taxing seniors' pensions, cutting the state Earned Income Credit, etc.) while dropping them for the wealthy.
--Cutting the appropriations for K-12 education in 2011, and not replacing the classroom-based funds in subsequent years.
--Giving his cousin a sweetheart deal for furniture expenditures, overriding a previous budget limit by tens of millions of dollars.
--Tacitly supporting the anti-gay-marriage campaign of AG Schuette. (Now that's another "public official" who needs to be retired. Go Mark Totten!)
--Signing legislation making it more difficult for MI women to obtain abortions.
--Failing to persuade the GOP-dominated MI Legislature to come up with enough money to repair our roads.
--Signing legislation that makes it much more difficult for communities to override the monetary interests of private landowners with regard to environmentally-hazardous projects. [Here I'm thinking about oil well drilling in Washtenaw County, or the proposal to mine gravel from a hill north of Chelsea till the hill is flattened. I'm confident other examples abound.]
--Supporting the austerity forced on MI cities, when the state backed out of the revenue-sharing agreements they had made.
--Creating his secret NERD fund.
Hmm. Pretty damning list already, though I'm sure I've forgotten some. Later, I might post a poll, once you've offered other input.
Schauer hit on many of these in the debate, but there wasn't time to address all the possibilities. Now I'm asking all of you in your wisdom to weigh in. If there's one action you'd most like to hold against Rick Snyder (apart from winning in 2010 in the first place), what would it be? It doesn't have to be one I've already named. However, if you do pick one listed above, please feel free to elaborate. Details are good.
Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. Let's go win!