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(CNN) – Newt Gingrich is campaigning in Michigan next week on the hopes that negative sparring between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum will yield much-needed delegates before Super Tuesday. The former House speaker is trailing his Republican presidential opponents in the latest Michigan poll. Since he has not spent any money on advertising there like his two rival contenders, Gingrich needs to pay a visit to convince voters that he’s still in the game. In an interview Wednesday evening on FOX News, Gingrich laid out a strategy to pick up some delegates on Feb. 28, thanks to Michigan’s proportional representation,...

Police reward drivers with gift certificates Romulus, Michigan- Did you know it's Random Act of Kindness Week? The Romulus Police Department is taking this idea and running with it. The Department spent Friday looking to punish those who break the law while rewarding those who follow the rules. "People don't usually leave a traffic stop feeling better. Here's an opportunity for us to do that," says Romulus Police Cpt. John Leacher. Patrol officers pulled over dozens of good drivers and handed them $10 gift cards to Subway as a random act of kindness and for obeying the laws. As Sgt....

A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win...

“If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win the state in which he grew up.

DETROIT -- The streak is alive -- and the Detroit Red Wings have three of their best players to thank for it. Pavel Datsyuk broke a 1-1 tie by scoring with just 5.8 seconds left in regulation to give the Wings a 2-1 victory against the Nashville Predators on Friday night, extending their NHL-record home winning streak to 22 games. With overtime looming, Nicklas Lidstrom controlled a bouncing puck in the neutral zone and backhanded a pass to Henrik Zetterberg, whose no-look pass caught Datsyuk in stride just as he hit the Nashville blue line. Datsyuk took over from there,...

SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Mich. - Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Vadnais, the adjutant general of Michigan’s Army and Air National Guard, is seeking to maintain the current levels of personnel, aircraft and mission assignments in Michigan – possibly seeking to grow those numbers – even in the face of overall declines in the nation’s military spending. A strong militia makes for a strong America, Michigan’s top soldier said today. And Vadnais aims to keep it that way. Vadnais, the adjutant general of Michigan’s Army and Air National Guard, is seeking to maintain the current levels of personnel, aircraft and...

A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win...

A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win...

Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum is on Public Television's Off The Record. Recorded Friday morning, February 17, 2012 at WKAR in East Lansing. http://video.wkar.org/video/2198096795/

On Fox News last night, Mitt Romney dismissed Rick Santorum’s “Rombo” ad, which features a Mitt Romney look-alike shooting mud at a cardboard cutout of a smiling Santorum, as the “the most negative ad I’ve seen, so far,” per GOP12. “Look, it’s not something I’m going to whine about,” Romney added. “I know there’s some candidates that want to whine about the fact that you go back-and-forth and talk about the distinctions between one another.”

Providing new ammunition to lure more jobs to Macomb County, state officials announced on Thursday that the Michigan Defense Center has been relocated from Lansing to the defense corridor in Warren and Sterling Heights. “We are already the defense capital of the Midwest,” declared County Executive Mark Hackel. “With this … facility, what I’m trying to do is to make this the defense capital of the world.” The Michigan Defense Center celebrated its new home, the Macomb-Oakland University business incubator on 18 Mile Road known as Velocity, with a ceremony attended by about 130 state, county and local officials, as...

National pollsters have already released surveys showing Rick Santorum taking a lead over Mitt Romney in Romney’s native state of Michigan. Today, three state-based polls concur, showing leads from just under four points to ten points in the key battleground state. The Detroit News poll shows the tightest margin (via Politico’s Morning Blast e-mail):

When the Pioneer Zephyr — better known as the Silver Streak — made its historic run from Denver to Chicago in 1934, the diesel-powered passenger train now on display at the Museum of Science and Industry topped out at 112.5 miles per hour, which at the time was only slightly off the world land speed record. What then are we to make of Wednesday’s official Amtrak kickoff for its first “high speed rail” corridor outside the Northeast — on which trains traveling between Chicago and Kalamazoo, Mich., will now reach top speeds of 110 miles per hour? Bring back the...

Presidential candidate NewtGingrich says even though rivals RickSantorum and Mitt Romney are currently leading the pack in the important primary state of Michigan — which is also Romney’s home state — the former House speaker has not given up on his chances. Gingrich, who has dumbfounded political pundits before with his repeated surges, also told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Wednesday that he continues to confidently look to Super Tuesday. “I’ll be in Michigan campaigning next week — we have every reason to believe we’re going to be competing there effectively — and we’re going to have a number of...

Washington (CNN) - The war of commercials from the presidential campaigns and various super PACs supporting candidates is expected to intensify in the coming days and to greatly expand in its scope. Mitt Romney's campaign has now bought almost $1.2 million in ad time in Michigan, a source who tracks media buys told CNN. So far the campaign has up a positive spot in the state where the candidate talks about his Michigan roots. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding its ad strategy. With Rick Santorum vowing to vigorously compete in Michigan, which votes on...

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will endorse Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, in advance of the state's primary on Feb. 28, GOP sources told National Journal and CBS News. Snyder will announce his support for the former Massachusetts governor at a lunch in Farmington Hills, Mich., where Romney is to address the Greater Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce and the Livonia Chamber of Commerce.

PALO ALTO -- Newt Gingrich, fundraising in California this week to bolster his fading presidential campaign, said this afternoon that he is "on the way to Michigan and Arizona," which hold primaries on Feb. 28. The former House speaker's campaign characterized his week of California fundraising as necessary to compete on Super Tuesday, when 10 states hold primaries or caucuses March 6. "We're on the way to Michigan and Arizona, but we're out here doing fundraising, and we scheduled this a couple months ago," Gingrich said as he left a series of meetings at the Hoover Institution, a think tank...

Negative ads by Romney worked to fend off the challenge of Newt Gingrich in recent weeks, and more are in the works against Santorum - although it's unclear how successful they will be. In a clear sign that attack ads are looming, the pro-Romney "Super PAC" Restore Our Future has notably ramped up its TV advertising in several states including Michigan.

How does an underfunded candidate defend himself against a big onslaught of negative attack ads? Newt Gingrich tried leveraging the media attention received from going nasty and personal in response and ended up flaming out in Florida and a string of caucuses in the last three weeks. Rick Santorum has decided to use humor to just attack the attack in a new ad running called "Rombo": CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO In its morning e-mail blast, Politico reports on the strategy, which purposefully avoids what it sees as the mistakes made by Gingrich in January: Campaign leaders feel that...

Mitt Romney's campaign in Michigan predicts a "strong finish" in the state's Feb. 28 presidential primary, but it stopped short of calling it a win for Romney in the state-by-state nominating contests. "We're going to have a very strong showing 13 days from now," said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in a conference call Wednesday morning. Schuette is Romney's Michigan campaign chairman. "I'm very pleased with our position," Schuette said. Asked to define what a "strong showing" is, Schuette said, "I'll let you know that Tuesday night." Romney's campaign moves to Michigan in advance of the Feb. 28 primary and...

Santorum campaign has purchased $41K of airtime in Michigan between 2/15-2/28 vs. Romney camp: $824K

Via BuzzFeed. As expected, they’re going hard after his fiscal heresies. I’m giving you Santorum’s new ad here too, which is noteworthy first because he touts his tea-party cred (ironic) and second because he’s now making electability a core component of his pitch. No other Not Romney has been in that position before — but the numbers do back him up, for now: One thing that has remained constant in the ever changing GOP Presidential race is that Mitt Romney is the strongest candidate against Barack Obama…at least until now. PPP’s newest national poll finds Romney trailing Obama by 7...

[snip] Air Force Secretary Michael Donley met Tuesday with Michigan Reps. Candice Miller and Tim Walberg, who concerned about losing the A-10 mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. “Secretary Donley indicated that the Obama Administration is not open to making any alterations to their proposed cuts and all of the cuts outlined last week will be included in the budget the President plans to send to Congress next week,” the two Republicans said in a joint statement. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, left a Thursday meeting with Donley still frustrated with the Pentagon’s plans for the Iowa National Guard’s 132nd...

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, following his wins last week in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, has now jumped ahead of Mitt Romney in Michigan's Republican Primary race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in Michigan shows Santorum with 35% of the vote to Romney’s 32%. Well behind are Texas Congressman Ron Paul with 13% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 11%. Only one percent (1%) prefers some other candidate in the race, while eight percent (8%) are undecided.

BARRY COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A Barry County homeowner says he took matters into his own hands Monday morning and shot a man he claims was trying to break into his home. The incident happened around 7:00 am Monday morning on Boyson Road near 9 Mile Road in Orangeville. Investigators with the Barry County Sheriff's Department are looking at whether the shooting is actually self defense. The homeowner says he shot an intruder, but deputies are looking at who should be charged. “We have to sort out was it self-defense or was it something criminal that either party had...

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of a new American Research Group poll of Michigan, which gives Rick Santorum a six-point lead over Mitt Romney, a native son, is the stark divide it shows in the level of voter commitment to the candidates. Among the Republicans that the polling firm classified as definite voters, Mr. Santorum’s lead was larger, 11 points over Mr. Romney. However, Mr. Romney led Mr. Santorum 33 to 22 among voters the pollsters classified as more marginal.

“Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution” is a 10-week online course presented by Hillsdale College. Featuring an expanded format from the “Introduction to the Constitution” lecture series with Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn, Constitution 101 follows closely the one-semester course required of all Hillsdale College undergraduate students. In this course, you can: watch lectures from the same Hillsdale faculty who teach on campus; study the same readings taught in the College course; submit questions for weekly Q&A sessions with the faculty; access a course study guide; test your knowledge through weekly quizzes; and upon completion of...

“Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution” is a 10-week online course presented by Hillsdale College. Featuring an expanded format from the “Introduction to the Constitution” lecture series with Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn, Constitution 101 follows closely the one-semester course required of all Hillsdale College undergraduate students. In this course, you can: • watch lectures from the same Hillsdale faculty who teach on campus; • study the same readings taught in the College course; • submit questions for weekly Q&A sessions with the faculty; • access a course study guide; • test your knowledge through weekly...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

Mitt Romney is getting some heavy air support in Michigan — the state where he was born and raised — as the “super PAC” supporting him invests almost $500,000 on television ads there. According to someone who tracks Republican media spending, Restore Our Future has committed just over $470,000 for commercials starting Tuesday and set to run through Feb. 20. That marks the group’s largest purchase yet in Michigan, where it will have spent more than $700,000 on ads by next week. The group said Monday that it would continue for now to run an ad called “Risk” that targets...

Of all the polling that takes place over the next three weeks, Michigan might get the highest profile. Mitt Romney has strong ties to Michigan; his father was a popular governor in the state, and most people assumed Romney would not have to expend much energy there to win a Republican primary. The first hint of trouble came two weeks ago in a Rasmussen poll that showed Romney only 15 points up over Newt Gingrich but only at 38%, roughly what he got in 2008 against two strong challengers. I wrote at the time that Michigan could provide an opening...

Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich. Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity (a stellar 67/23 favorability) and GOP voters increasingly souring on Gingrich. Santorum's becoming something closer and closer to a consensus conservative candidate as Gingrich bleeds support. Santorum's winning an outright majority of the Tea Party vote with 53% to 22% for Romney and 10% for Gingrich. He comes close to one with Evangelicals as well at 48% to 20% for...

The United Auto Workers plans to take part in more non-violent protests in its fight against what it calls right-wing policies that have hurt the middle class. UAW president Bob King told a crowd of more than 500 at the 75th anniversary of union's first contract with General Motors that more direct action like such as the Flint sit-down strike of 1937 is needed today. “They’re trying to shred the social contract,” King said at the event held in Flint. “We don’t spend too much. This is still a rich country The problem is we’ve lost our moral compass,” said...

President Barack Obama has endorsed Michigan Rep. John Conyers in his bid for a twenty-fifth term. "Congressman John Conyers, Jr. is a tireless champion for all of South Eastern Michigan's working families, especially the many struggling to get by," Obama said in a statement. "That is why we need his dedicated efforts back in Congress to continue the fight with me to bring real jobs to the greater Metro Detroit area and our nation. I need you to cast your vote for Congressman John Conyers, Jr. in the August Democratic Congressional Primary." Conyers, the longest-serving black House member, has drawn...

Thursday was just the second time Rick Santorum's campaign has ever raised more than a million dollars in a single day. The first was Wednesday, right after Santorum swept GOP contests in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. That's what winning will do. Santorum is now enjoying the bounce he never got after his belated victory in Iowa. The question is, what is he going to do with it? The next primaries are more than two weeks away, on Feb. 28 in Arizona and Michigan. They're both big, they're both important, and they're both states in which Mitt Romney will have some...

Air Force says decision final; loss of squadron includes 600 workers U.S. Rep. Candice Miller on Thursday vowed to fight the cutbacks planned at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, calling the Pentagon decision to eliminate the base's A-10 aircraft "unfounded, unfair and economically indefensible." Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, and fellow GOP Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton met with Air Force Secretary Michael Donley on Tuesday and were told that the cutbacks at Selfridge and at the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base are final. Only a congressional decision to alter President Barack Obama's budget proposal could...

Unlike the man who claimed a pricey Dallas home for $16, squatters in Detroit houses that failed to sell at a tax auction may be able to keep their new digs -- for a mere 500 bucks. The Detroit News reports: In a stark sign that paying property taxes is optional for some in Detroit, Wayne County Treasury officials decided last week its workers will go door-to-door to some of the 6,500 city properties unsold at last fall's tax auctions and offer to make a deal with whoever is living inside. That could include renters, squatters or the owners who...

Next year's Winter Classic could set an attendance record. The Detroit Red Wings will face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium, a matchup of two Original Six teams at the iconic college football facility that drew more than 104,000 fans for a college hockey game in 2010. [...] The centerpiece will be the Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, 45 miles west of Detroit, and it will include a Canadian team for the first time. "It's Hockeytown versus the center of the hockey universe," said Brian Burke, the Toronto general manger who was at...

The people of Detroit are taking no prisoners. Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies. “We got to have a little Old West up here in Detroit. That’s what it’s gonna take,” Detroit resident Julia...

In the wake of Rick Santorum’s big night yesterday, Mitt Romney might be inclined to tell himself that the Pennsylvanian can’t duplicate those victories elsewhere and that his advantage in money and organization will ultimately enable him to prevail in most states in a race that now looks to be long and hard but still in his pocket. But he should put all such consoling thoughts out of his head. Though Santorum is still weak where Romney is strong, all that could change later this month if he wins in another state where everyone is assuming Romney can’t lose. Romney needs...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - In a case that could set national precedent, the three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel plans to hear arguments Thursday about whether a pastor’s testimony related to a possible confession in a child sexual assault case may be used in court. According to court documents, Samuel Bragg confessed in 2009 to the Rev. John Vaprezsan at Metro Baptist Church in Belleville about the 2007 assault of a 9-year-old girl when he was 15. Vaprezsan testified last March in the case against Bragg, who is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bragg was 17 years old in 2009...

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A new Michigan State University policy requiring freshmen to either have health insurance or pay to join a plan through the school has drawn some opposition from state lawmakers. The East Lansing school is the first public university in Michigan to mandate coverage, the Lansing State Journal and the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday. The school said that about 25 percent of public universities nationwide have the same requirement. Republicans in the state Legislature have set a Feb. 15 hearing to discuss the policy from the state's second-largest public university. Michigan State University Provost Kim Wilcox...

Reid’s floor maneuvers leave some Senate Democrats frustratedBy Alexander Bolton - 02/07/12 05:15 AM ET Some Democrats are grumbling over how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has run the floor this year. The frustration is felt mostly among junior lawmakers, who want more of a role in decision-making and have yet to resign themselves to the traditional pace of the Senate, where seniority rules and lawmakers often have to wait years to have significant influence. They say Reid’s style leaves them feeling out of the loop. Colleagues have second-guessed Reid’s decision to greenlight a deal with Republicans on the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that Chevrolet Volt purchasers are now eligible for the state’s $2,500 electric vehicle (EV) rebate. The rebate requires that consumers qualify for and participate in The EV Project, a national study on EV use and charging infrastructure deployment. The EV Project will provide participants with a free Blink® 240V networked charge station and a credit of up to $1,200 towards its installation. To be eligible, Tennessee residents must sign an EV Project participant agreement, purchase the Volt, take delivery of the car, and have SPX Corporation install...

Clint Eastwood and Chrysler ticked off plenty of conservatives who usually back the actor and director. The ad’s message is that everything is peachy keen now that taxpayers bailed out Chrysler for a second time. It is halftime in America, the ad said. That ticked off conservatives. Saying it is halftime in America is echoic of Ronald Reagan’s morning in America and is seen as a political ad for President Obama’s re-election. From Mark Steyn: “Do you know who owns almost 60% of Chrysler, this great American institution? Fiat! Yes, nothing could be more American than an Italian company that’s...

Michigan - -(Ammoland.com)- Senate Bill 58 was introduced by Senator Green early last year and co-sponsored by Senators Kowall, Brandenburg, Colbeck, Casperson, Emmons, Jansen, Moolenaar and Robertson. It is currently sitting with the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would eliminate the so-called “Pistol Free Zones” for CPL (Concealed Pistol License) holders. As readers of this column may recall, I often refer to the “Pistol Free Zones” as “Mass Murderer Empowerment Zones.” This is because the list includes several places where mass killings have occurred. As any thinking person knows, the only effect of any “gun free zone” that is not...

This year another advertisement entered a crowded field, without pomp but predicated on real-world circumstance–Chrysler’s “Halftime in America,” featuring a weathered but resolute Clint Eastwood. He isn’t exactly selling anything in the spot, which is filmed to resemble a political ad if it were produced by Paul Haggis (Eastwood’s collaborator on Million Dollar Baby and the director of Crash). Instead, he aims to jolt, then scold, but ultimately soothe the viewer. First seen walking from the shadows of a hazy football game, he hunches his shoulders walks with a tired grace. Speaking in a voice so gravelly you could walk...

This year another advertisement entered a crowded field, without pomp but predicated on real-world circumstance–Chrysler’s “Halftime in America,” featuring a weathered but resolute Clint Eastwood. He isn’t exactly selling anything in the spot, which is filmed to resemble a political ad if it were produced by Paul Haggis (Eastwood’s collaborator on Million Dollar Baby and the director of Crash). Instead, he aims to jolt, then scold, but ultimately soothe the viewer. First seen walking from the shadows of a hazy football game, he hunches his shoulders walks with a tired grace. Speaking in a voice so gravelly you could walk...

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

RACINE - An investigation Thursday night into recall petition fraud after a man's name is found four times on a petition against a state senator. TODAY'S TMJ4 talked to three people Thursday -- who say their names were forged on petitions to recall Van Wanggaard, including a woman who wonders if her son forged her name. At first glance, you might think Jeff Demet has quite the axe to grind with his state senator. Demet's signature appears four times on petitions to recall Van Wanggaard. There's just one problem. TODAY'S TMJ4's Steve Chamraz: "Did you sign that?" Jeff Demet: "No,...