Kathy Barks Hoffman, of the Associated Press, has a great piece in the South Bend Tribune that takes a look at what went wrong for Democrats in the state before Election Day. She writes:
Michigan Democrats started 2010 with their main candidate for governor withdrawing from the race, donors feeling the pinch of the poor economy and the drag of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's unpopularity hanging around their necks.
On November 2nd, Republicans won the Governor's office and the races for Attorney General and Secretary of State. The GOP also widened their majority in the state Senate and won control of the state House of Representatives from the Democrats.
Hoffman notes that Democratic voters did not turn out to the polls like they did in the 2006 gubernatorial election. She sites data from political strategist Ed Sarpolus that shows 300,000 fewer Democrats voted compared to four years ago.
Hoffman cites other reasons for the Democrat's loses:
- Independent voters swung toward the GOP
- Democrats didn't know very much about their candidates
- Democratic candidate for governor Virg Bernro couldn't match Republican candidate (and now governor-elect) Rick Snyder's fundraising
