Inside and outside of Oakland

Election day in Michigan: The only poll that matters

  Voters in Michigan go the polls today for presidential nominating primaries in Michigan and Arizona, the only poll that matters.
  So what's in a poll?
  Four polls came out Monday. Two of them had former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with a two-point lead over his main rival in Michigan, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. One gave Romney a four-point lead over Santorum, and the fourth gave Santorum a two-point lead over Romney.
  Now it's up to voters to decide.
  In Michigan, Republicans are expressing outrage that Democrats may actually cast ballots in Michigan's GOP primary -- for Santorum.
  Is there room for Democrats to skew the results away from Romney?

SWEET TWEETS: Tuesday's primaries in Michigan and Arizona


Democratic National Committee vice chair R.T. Rybak expects Romney to win Michigan by more than the two points that recent polls show

ELECTION FEVER: Presidential primary and local issues face voters

  Michigan’s statewide presidential primary will dominate election activity Tuesday.
  But some communities have proposals on the ballot as well, and there’s one special election to fill a vacant state House seat.
  In short, voters going to the polls Tuesday in some communities will be participating in two different elections, if they choose.

Romney holds two-point lead over Santorum in latest poll

  Mitt Romney has a small lead over Rick Santorum in Michigan's Republican presidential nominating race, a new poll released Sunday says.

Santorum adds appearance on local talk radio

  Republican Rick Santorum has added an appearance on talk radio Monday night in his fight for the GOP presidential nomination against Mitt Romney.

More stops scheduled for Romney, Santorum in Michigan

  Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum will make more stops across Michigan in the run-up to Michigan's presidential primary Tuesday. Their campaign supporters have also scheduled more events.

Game on in Michigan primary

  It's game on in Michigan today.
  Likely the last major event in Oakland County before Tuesday's Michigan primary is the Americans for Prosperity forum in Troy, already underway.
  Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are scheduled to appear in what has become a dogfight in Romney's home state and in which their campaigns and supporting Super Pacs have spent more than $6 million in advertising.
  And let's not forget Ron Paul.

Santorum, Romney in southeast Michigan

 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is blitzing southeast Michigan, the morning after his main rival, Mitt Romney, courted tea party groups in Milford.

Ron Paul leads the GOP field in the T-shirt economy

   Mainstream polls suggest Tuesday’s Michigan Republican primary is between Michigan native Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
   Just don’t tell Ron Paul that.
   An informal poll of readers of The Oakland Press on Facebook, and sales of election year merchandise,  suggests that Paul, the Texas congressman, is the favorite — at least when it comes to the T-shirt economy.

Romney to court southeast Michigan tea party groups

  Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will be courting Oakland County and southeast Michigan's tea party groups, just days in advance of Michigan's Feb. 28 primary.
  Romney will be at a one-hour forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Baker's Restaurant in Milford.
  The event is open only to tea party members, and tickets for the estimated 500-seat event are being distributed through the various tea party groups.

POLL: Michigan primary narrows, but outcome remains fluid

The Republican nominating race for president in Michigan narrowed last week between frontrunner Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, a survey of 602 likely Republican primary voters in Michigan Feb. 17-19 concludes. But the race remains fluid in the final week leading up to Michigan's Feb. 28 voting.

POLL: Snyder gains ground in Michigan; GOP lawmakers trail Democrats

Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is seeing his approval ratings rise, according to Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling of North Carolina.

Romney campaign stops short of predicting victory in Michigan; fires back at critics

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney fired back at Democratic critics Wednesday and went on the offensive against Rick Santorum, his chief Republican challenger for the moment, as the GOP presidential primary calendar moves into Michigan.

WITH VIDEO: Supporters say Michigan is still "Romney country"


  Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum heads to Michigan next week with four wins under his belt, but supporters of Mitt Romney says Michigan is still "Romney country."

Democratic poll says Santorum leads Romney in Michigan GOP nominating race, but....

  Two weeks before Michigan's presidential primary, a Democratic polling firm says Rick Santorum is 15 percentage points ahead of Mitt Romney among Republican primary voters.
  A poll released Monday by Public Policy Polling of 404 GOP primary taken between Feb. 10 and 12 has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
  PPP says Santorum takes an outright majority of the tea party vote, 53 percent to 22 percent for Romney, and scores at 48 percent among those identifying themselves as evangelical.
  The poll, however, notes that 53 percent of those responding said they could change their minds in the next two weeks.

Democrats criticize Patterson's leadership

Oakland County Democrats, at odds with Republican County Executive L. Brooks Patterson over a new law that redraws and reduces county commission districts, brought their own message to Patterson's annual State of the County address Wednesday.

Instead of giving Patterson credit for the economic programs he outlined as successful in his speech, Democrats said Patterson's initiatives have done little to stimulate job growth in the past 20 years.

"Year after year, we hear Brooks Patterson boast about his achievements in the State of the County address," said Kevin Howley, of Huntington Woods, in a statement prior to Patterson's speech.

State of Oakland County: Economy top issue

The economy — and its recovery — was the focus of Republican L. Brooks Patterson's annual State of the County address Wednesday in Pontiac.

The five-term county executive, up for re-election this year to a sixth four-year term, outlined programs he has instituted in the past 20 years to either grow jobs or mitigate their losses in a down economy.

"The overriding issue facing all of us in this room, in this region, and in this state is, of course, the economy," Patterson said in his invitation-only address to about 400 people at the Centerpoint Marriott.