His advisors tried to discourage Reagan from wasting time here too. Thank God he ignored them.
We aren’t the rabidly liberal state many try to make us out to be. Democrats only consistently win between 8 and 12 of our 83 counties. We’ve banned affirmative action in state hiring, banned gay marriage, and have decent gun laws including open carry. The GOP is likely to pick up at least two house seats and the governor’s mansion in this election.
For John McCain to basically tell us that we’re SOL didn’t play well against Obama’s Hope and Change.
Nevertheless, I think I would take issue with your characterization of MI. Although it's true that there are lots of hunters, gun-owners, et al in MI, the unions have so much power that they set the tone for almost everything. Can you really say it's not a liberal state when Granholm won re-election 58-42? I was still living in MI then, and I was amazed that the state could reelect that dizzy, Kim Novak look-alike by such a margin. I mean, vote fraud can only count for so much...I wish I could say otherwise, but MI looks to remain blue for the foreseeable future. I'd love to be wrong about that (it's home after all), but I just don't see things changing soon.
You've also got the Catholic Church influence, with its institutionalized leftward slant, particularly in Detroit (I speak, BTW, as a Catholic).
I don't know; my home county of Niles would NEVER have elected a democrat for President when I was growing up there 25 years ago, yet it's gone dem ever since Clinton. The area has changed drastically from when I grew up. That's not to say that there are no conservatives still there, but we're not nearly the power we once were. My mom and dad tell me they feel more and more like an endangered species.