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Michigan elected a Black Dem to statewide office before Colorado. Richard Austin from Detroit who had lost — by only 108 votes (!) — to John Conyers in the ‘64 Dem primary for the newly-created Black 1st district, and then tried to become the first Black Mayor of Detroit in ‘69 (losing to Roman Gribbs, the last White Mayor, by only 7,000 votes, 1%), and then managed to win the Secretary of State’s office in 1970 (at that point, the office had been controlled by the Dems for some time). He was reelected in ‘74, tried to move up to the Senate in ‘76, but lost the Dem primary to the ex-RINO Congressman Don Riegle, and continued to win the Sec of State’s office for the next 18 years. 81, and well past his prime, he got swept out of office by now-Congresswoman Candice Miller in ‘94. Austin is nearly forgotten today, but one wonders how much different he would’ve been had he either beaten Conyers in ‘64 or stopped the monstrous Coleman Young before he laid Detroit to waste.

Didn’t Candice Miller win every county in 1998 including Wayne? Was her opponent an avowed child molester or something? Even Dr. Death’s lawyer did better in the Gov’s race.

Austin was Secretary of State before I was born (I'm in my early 30's) but during my lifetime, he wasn't seen a typical Michigan style of "black candidate." He was just there, and he won everywhere. He always seemed to win largely since the GOP didn't contest the race. In 1994, they finally went after everybody, and took almost all of them except the "eternal general" Frank Kelley. Austin was the old guy who was past his prime and did not do anything about long lines. Candice Miller won. She won re-election easily because people wern't waiting in line for as long as they did for Austin.

Looking back, too bad Austin didn't beat Gribbs in 69. Irony is that I think Obama's biggest problem in Michigan stems from the 1973 mayoral election (along with bussing rulings).