Voters may punish members of Congress who supported shutdown

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters

  The 16 days of a partial government shutdown has done nothing for the popularity of Congress.

  But individual members who opposed the shutdown are getting a boost in some political polls, while those who supported it aren't.

  A poll released Wednesday as Congress teetered on the edge of ending the shutdown showed U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, ahead of Republican Terri Lynn Land in the race for U.S. Senate next year.

Schauer criticizes Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on economy in advance of 2014 election

 Mark Schauer says the 2014 election will bring wholesale changes to Michigan's political makeup.

Mark Schauer

Democrat

  The 52-year-old former one-term congressman hopes he'll be part of the change.

  Schauer, from Battle Creek, wants to unseat first-term incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Snyder next year, criticizing the Snyder policies he says have depressed wages, cut revenue sharing and education, taxed individual pensions, and rewarded the state's largest corporations.

Public anger may force Congress to reach a budget/debt deal the Dems and GOP aren't inclined to make

  Will Congress reach at least a short-term deal on the budget and borrowing power in time to end a partial government shutdown and avoid a financial default?
  The odds are that they will, if for no other reason than their collective popularity can't get much lower and the election cycle for next year is starting to gear up.