When I appeared last week on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Richard Burr of The Detroit News was on to give the Michigan perspective about the increasingly wild early primary schedule scramble -- and why Michigan should take over our first-in-the-solar-system primary spot.
On his blog today, Burr called my defense of the NH primary reasonable but suggested again that the candidates aren't really dealing with specific issues that impact Michigan -- or in this case, the auto industry which is THE economic Godzilla there and, yes, in many other parts of the country. He also noted that NH has an axe to grind -- namely that we are pushing to increase federal clean air standards. We are but that doesn't mean we don't care about Michigan jobs. We also care about the quality of air we breathe which again makes my point -- this is a national issue being debated and discussed here.
Perhaps Michigan's specific concerns are not entirely on the national radar screen but as the Herald Sunday editorial of 8/26 noted (here), it's not because the candidates or we are dissing Michigan or any other state.
I hope Burr's thoughtful reply about NH's primary role will lead to a regional exchange of ideas and broaden the conversation here, there, and elsewhere.
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