So, in addition to Michigan delivering its 16 electoral votes to Pres. Obama by 54 to 45% and re-electing Debbie Stabenow to the Senate by a whopping 20 point margin, there's a lot of additional great news for Democrats & progressives here in Mitt Romney's (original) home state:
Proposal 1 (Emergency Financial Manager Law) REPEALED!
(For some backstory on the EFM, here's Rachel Maddow giving a breakdown):
Proposals 5 & 6 (2/3 majority taxes / billionaire bridge) defeated!
Mary Bridget McCormack appears to have won a spot on the state Supreme Court!
(You may remember her from this amazing "West Wing Reunion" video posted which went viral on YouTube recently):
Homophobic Troy Mayor Janice Daniels recalled!
(Here's Daniels acting like a complete asshole while supposedly HONORING one of her citizens):
Lisa “V for Vagina!” Brown elected Oakland County Clerk!
(If you don't remember the reference, here's a reminder):
Jim Nash (strong advocate of renewables & strong opponent of fracking) had a surprise win as he was elected Water Resources Commissioner, beating a multi-year GOP incumbent!
County Treasurer Andy Meisner, who won the landmark first-in-the-nation lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for local taxpayers, won re-election, as did County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who also happens to be a client of mine.
And, on a more personal level, here in Bloomfield Hills, Ingrid Day, Howard Baron & Rob Herner won their respective School Board seats. While these truly are non-partisan positions (and I have no clue what any of their politics are on other issues), this DOES mean that our long-awaited new High School that I wrote about last spring should finally proceed with construction smoothly without any crazy grandstanding.
Now, on the downside, the other two progressive Supreme Court candidates, Connie Kelley and Shelia Johnson, both lost, so the GOP keeps control of the court. Also, Proposals 2, 3 and 4 (re. collective bargaining / renewable energy / home healthcare workers) went down in flames, which is disappointing. Finally, in MI-11, nutbag Kerry Bentivolio easily beat Dr. Syed Taj and Dem Gary McDowell appears to have lost by a hair to incumbent GOPper Dan Benishek.
Still, there was a lot to be happy about in the Wolverine state.