I'm from Michigan. This is a politically schizophrenic blue state. There are two groups, as Michael Moore put it. There are the unions and the progressive contingent that makes up the bulk of the population, and then there are the conservatives in the north and thumb who pretty much hate what the rest of the state does. Western Michigan has parts, like Kent County, that went for Obama, but the rest of it is blood red conservative Dutch. Southeast Michigan is not a liberal bastion. There's Ann Arbor, and that's it. I always find that left leaning people never really dominate an area; we're always mixed in with Republicans while I know of plenty of places that are drowning in red. Michigan won't be going red any time soon, but I think if we're going to go up against the Santorums of the world, we have to know how his followers think. We have to stretch our open minds, and actually imagine that someone who believes that people going to college is "snobbery," is a real living, breathing human being. I think these people are in the minority, but they have gotten so good at masking themselves as normal people, that low information voters might get fooled.
Locally, the Tea Party has really done a doozy on my state. It's not just the homophobic mayor of Troy. The Canton Tea Party tried to ban "Beloved," stating that it was unfair that their children are forced to read swear words. In my area, I'm surrounded by "Buck Ofama" bumper stickers on cars driven by pot smoking day laborers who love them some Medicare and stay home on unemployment insurance, toking up while demanding people like them get drug tested (I shit thee not). Then, there is Traverse city, close to the Mackinac Center, well known for its fair and balanced politics. I read an article with Santorum supporters in Traverse city, and it disgusted me to think that there were some people who agreed that college brain washed kids. In fact, one man thought that teaching kids sensitivity in school was bad, and that's something that should be taught at home. I wished the reporter asked whether or not he actually did teach that to his children. It's a crazy state. Southeastern Michigan has a lot of immigrants, Lebanese and Middle Easterners, right next to Jewish people who have yet to leave for Florida and Black people who've been in the state for awhile now and even in the worst of times keep it from being red. We have the liberal citadel of Ann Arbor, while the western part of the state is in a ... well state of flux.
Santorum can win here. If Gingrich didn't exist it'd be in the bag. The Crazy Christian right is strong here. They just don't mix in with the rest of us. It's too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. These people are armed with their bibles and clutching their guns, and they are every bit as frightening as you've imagined.