NEWS

Bill Clinton: Michigan will do better with Dems

David Eggert
Associated Press
Former President Bill Clinton shows a graph as he addresses Democrats in Flint Wednesday. Clinton told a crowd that the Democratic candidates support "middle-out" economic policies such as raising the minimum wage and not "trickle-down."

Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that Michigan residents will do better economically if they elect Mark Schauer as governor and Gary Peters to the U.S. Senate, urging Democrats to help persuade people to vote in a midterm election they might otherwise sit out.

"We have to plan for the future. You will do better with Gary Peters. You will do better with Mark Schauer," he told a crowd of under 1,000 in a Flint banquet center, where he criticized Republican "trickle-down" policies and hailed Democratic "middle-out" policies like raising the minimum wage for the working class.

Clinton — who joked he feels like an "old retired racehorse" when stumping for Democrats every election cycle — was the latest top Democrat to visit Michigan in the weeks before the Nov. 4 election, following his wife, Hillary, and first lady Michelle Obama. President Barack Obama is expected in the state the weekend before Election Day.

While Michigan has two Democratic senators, Republicans control the governor's office, Legislature and other statewide offices.

Clinton said low voter turnout in non-presidential elections is not only bad for Democrats but also for Republicans, contending that GOP candidates are less likely to reach out to the middle in off-year races.

He also condemned third-party political spending in Michigan and elsewhere, singling out the billionaire Koch brothers, whose group earlier this year ran TV ads against Peters, who is hoping to succeed retiring Sen. Carl Levin. Koch Carbon owned mounds of petroleum coke along the Detroit riverfront that resulted from Marathon Oil's refinery, prompting health concerns for nearby residents. The piles were removed last year.

"The Koch brothers deposited that. That's their real gift to Michigan. But they're spending so much money, what they want after this is a Congress full of Koch pets," Clinton said.

Clinton did not mention that billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer's climate change group has aired ads attacking Peters' opponent, Republican Terri Lynn Land.

Flint, in Genesee County, is reliably Democratic ground.

About 70,000 more Genesee voters cast ballots in the 2012 presidential race than in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Obama won the county by 28percentage points and the state by 9 points, while Republican Gov. Rick Snyder lost by just 4 points in Genesee two years earlier on his way to an 18-point victory statewide.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint said 23,000 Democrats in the city stayed home in 2010.

"Folks who are not engaged might pay attention to Bill Clinton when he comes in. If he can help them connect the dots, then that'll increase the likelihood that more Democrats turn out or independents or thoughtful Republicans," he said.

Both Schauer, who trailed in recent polling, and Peters, who led in recent polls, pleaded for Democrats to talk to everyone they can about the election.

"We are a blue state. It is time for us to start acting like it," Schauer said.

In a statement, state Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak said Peters and Schauer stood on stage "with Washington politicians who want to paint our state with their one-size-fits-all policy brush. These aren't the kind of leaders who acknowledge the progress that's underway in the Comeback State today,
and they certainly won't continue the trend
forward."