22 percent of Michigan Republicans backed Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson as their favored candidate, followed by Hoekstra at 17 percent, state Attorney General Mike Cox at 15 percent, and state Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land at 12 percent.
32 percent of Michigan Republicans were undecided as to whom they would back in the primary.
Hoekstra's intention to retire from Congress announced last December fueled speculation that the 55-year-old may be eyeing statewide office.
The victorious Republican is exepcted to face Lt. Gov. John Cherry (D) in the general election; three Republicans tested in the poll hold early leads over Gov. Jennifer Granholm's (D) would-be successor.
Cox leads Cherry 41-34, while Land leads Cherry 39-34, and Patterson leads Cherry 38-34.
The poll, conducted March 4-10, has an overall margin of error of 4.1 percent, except for the GOP primary, which has a 5.7 margin of error.
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) continued his streak of weekly conference calls with Kentucky repporters in which the endangered incumbent proves himself unafraid to speak his mind, this week going after CBS news.
Bunning saved some words for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
"If I see one more puff piece on Ben Bernanke -- ugggh," the Kentucky senator groaned with disgust. "Well what do you expect out of 60 minutes and CBS news? When somebody's in trouble, they prop 'em up."
Bunning wryly suggested that his political fortunes must also be doing well, considering he hasn't been interviewed by the CBS newsmagazine lately.
"By the way, they haven't come to see me lately -- I guess they don't think I need propping up," he added.
Bunning said that the Secretary of the Treasury -- both Tim Geithner and his predecessor, Henry Paulson -- should be held accountable for the poor management of aid to AIG, resulting in the controversial bonuses at the company.
The Kentucky Republican, who faces a tough reelection challenge in 2010, also said that he will not be joining the latest congressional fad by starting a Twitter account.
"Explain exactly what you mean by twitter," Bunning said when asked by a reporter whether he'd be setting up an account.
You could almost see this coming. After Gallup releases a poll this morning saying that a majority of Americans would support a law that would make it easier for workers to unionize (read: EFCA), Rasmussen releases a poll that says a majority think secret ballot voting is a fair way to form a union.
Hmmm.
In the Rasmussen poll, 61 percent answered "yes" to the question: "If enough workers express interest in forming a union, a secret ballot is held. Is it fair to require a secret ballot to determine if workers want to form a union?" Eighteen percent said "no" and 22 percent were unsure.
OK, I can see how some might criticize that question as not giving enough context so maybe it doesn't necessarily refute the Gallup poll. But then there's this question: "Should Congress change the law to make it easier for workers to form or join a labor union?"
President Obama lamented Tuesday that he couldn't be back in his hometown of Chicago for its legendary St. Patrick's Day parade.
Meeting with Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen this morning in the Oval Office, Obama said he regretted he couldn't be in Chicago today -- where the river is dyed green, and temperatures today are hitting a rare 70+ degrees.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Tuesday that after a successful operation at the beginning of February, she will undergo a precautionary chemotherapy treatment that should not affect her ability to serve on the court.
On February 5, 2009 I underwent a complete, successful, surgical removal of a pancreatic cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. In consultation with Dr. Eileen O
AIG executives shouldn't kill themselves, but they should take more responsibility for their company's failures than they have to date, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) explained Tuesday.
Grassley explained his remarks Monday in which he suggested that AIG executives should either resign or commit suicide.
"Of course I don't want anybody to go commit suicide, but I do want some contrition -- I want showing of remorse," Grassley said Tuesday during an appearance on Bloomberg News. "I have not heard a single apology from a single Wall Street CEO...for how they've run their company or financial institution."
"And in the case of the Japanese, they do one of two things: they either go commit suicide or they take a deep bow and say apologies and then sometimes resign," Grassley added. "But they take full responsibility, and we're not hearing that. And obviously I don't want anyone to kill themselves, because I don't believe in that sort of thing. But you ought to say, 'I'm sorry.'"
Grassley's remarks were perhaps the most outrageous of those expressed by members of Congress and the Obama administration on Monday after all parties in Washington piled on AIG for handing out millions in bonuses to employees and executives while receiving some of the largest financial assistance from the federal government.
This is undoubtedly going to make unions and the pro-EFCA crowd happy. Gallup released a poll this morning that found a majority of Americans approve of a new law making joining a union easier.
Fifty-three percent would support such a measure, while 39 percent would oppose it.
Perhaps predictably, there is a sharp partisan divide on the issue as seven in 10 Democrats support such a measure while six in 10 Republicans would oppose one. A majority of independents
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