Behind the Headlines

By Charles Slat
As U.S. automakers continue to look for financial help from lawmakers due to the current economy, there’s fresh evidence that rebuts critics who contend the industry is in its present fix because it hasn’t responded to market demand for smaller and more fuel-efficient “green” cars.
Guess what the best-selling vehicle in America was in November? Ford’s F-Series pickup trucks.
No. 2? The Chevy Silverado.
No. 3? Honda Civic.
And here’s the latest news from Ford:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says a second shift will start making F-150 pickups at the automaker’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo.
That shift of about 1,000 workers had been switched to production of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner small SUVs this summer.
Wednesday’s announcement comes after Ford announced in October that it planned to restore a third shift at its other F-150 plant in Dearborn, Mich. Those workers had been laid off earlier this year as the automaker cut production.
But gas prices are now less than half what they were this summer, and the redesigned 2009 version of the truck is improving demand.
Ford said Tuesday that F-series truck sales dropped 19 percent in November, which was significantly less than most of the company’s models.
Seems like a lot of buyers figure it’s no fun being green.

By Paula Wethington

Monroe County had a record turnout at the polls Tuesday. Story is at monroenews.com.

– By Paula Wethington

And now for some totally frivolous election fun …

If you are on Facebook and have a Fluff Friend (It’s a virtual pet application), then Facebook has just announced a Fluff Friends Election.

The game will last for about two weeks.

By Charles Slat

Here’s the note that showed up in my e-mail early today. The subject was “How this happened:”

Charles –
I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.
We just made history.
And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.
You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.
I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.
We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.
But I want to be very clear about one thing…
All of this happened because of you.
Thank you,
Barack

I got this message because I sent the Obama campaign my e-mail address to get press credentials when he visited Monroe for a Labor Day campaign stop. I’ve been getting periodic, personalized messages ever since. Most of them were accompanied by appeals to donate $5.
I mention this because I’ve never seen any candidate’s campaign make such efficient use of the Internet. I also got e-mails from Michelle Obama and Joe Biden.
As Republican 56th House candidate Jean Dahm said Tuesday, Obama’s use of technology “was brilliant.” That’s high praise from a woman who helps run Computer Works, her sons’ technology company in Monroe, but it certainly seems to be warranted.

Absentee voters in the City of Monroe cast ballots in record numbers, submitting 2,535 ballots, according to Loretta Hopson of the city clerk’s office.
She said usually in a Presidential election year, about 2,000 absentee votes, at most, are cast. “This is a record,” she said.
Cory Solomon and Olympio Varsogea helped tally the AV ballots and noted that some came from distant places, such as Spain, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa.
A lot of the local ballots also came in with postage due largely because an absentee ballot takes at least two stamps to get through the mail.

They’ve announced the results of the “My Dog Looks Like Obama or McCain” photo contest.
Check out the winners.

By Charles Slat
Which side of the political fence does your seemingly non-partisan neighbor really fall on?
The Federal Election Commission has a campaign finance database than can be sliced and diced in a few different ways to show who has donated to which campaigns.
But Fundrace at The Huffington Post has a database that’s a bit more user friendly. It’s fascinating to plug in a ZIP code, street name or person’s name to see what comes up.
You also can tell whether your ZIP code has more Republican contributors than Democratic. And you can find out who donates to both parties, just to cover their bets.

By Paula Wethington

I just spoke with one of my co-workers who waited an hour and 10 minutes at her polling place in Monroe.

The MonroeTalkers also have started a thread about voting lines.

Feel free to chime in – or send your comments and observations to the newsroom in care of city editor Doug Donnelly at doug@monroenews.com or 240-5777.

By Paula Wethington

Facebook has an Election 2008 campaign today. Facebook members can donate “status” (that’s the “here’s what I’m doing today” message) toward reminding people to vote, or asking people to vote for a specific candidate.

Facebook members also are invited to put an “I voted!” notice on their home page after they’ve voted.

By Paula Wethington

Do you want to see YOUR ballot before you go to the polls, without all the other stuff your neighbors in the next township or district will be voting on?

Go to Michigan.gov/vote and follow the directions for looking up your precinct ballot. You can cut down on the campaign and endorsement clutter real fast when you see what’s really on your ballot vs. what you may have been hearing about from another city or another state.

By Paula Wethington

The bag that your home-delivery edition of The Monroe Evening News got delivered in today is an advertisement.

You’ve seen those before – I’ve blogged about some of them at Monroe on a Budget when those advertising bags contain product samples.

It just so happens that today’s bag was a political advertisement.

If you want to know who the MEN officially endorses in the Tuesday election, go to page 4A of the print or e-editions.

By Paula Wethington

One of the calls made to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday was of 80 campaign signs found dumped on property in the 2800 block of Second Street in Detroit Beach.

Deputies report they took the signs as appropriate to the local Republican and Democrat party offices.

By Danielle Portteus

My co-worker Paula posted a little while ago about campaign signs being stolen or vandalized.

After speaking with a caller yesterday, I thought this would be a good time to make some additional comments to Paula’s post.

It seems this year, more people are noticing that signs are being damaged or stolen. I think more people are complaining about it because they think there is a different motivation this time.

I spoke with a man who lives along Secor Rd. in Bedford Township. His Obama/Biden sign was spray painted black. He thinks it was racially motivated.

A sign just up the road from his was also damaged.

When I traveled the stretch of road near his home, I noticed it wasn’t just the Obama/Biden signs that had been hit, but the McCain/Palin signs as well. Those signs, which were smaller and made of different material, had been torn in pieces.

The Bedford substation has reports of signs being damaged on both sides. The difference, I think, is people’s awareness about what signs have been hit.

I think people do take political sign vandalism personally this time around because of the candidate choices, at least for the Presidential election. I think more people are concerned because they think a random “attack” is really and attack on their candidate of choice rather than just silly mischief.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

You know it’s election season when campaign signs start sprouting on yards.

It’s also easy to tell it’s election season when reports start showing up in police blotters about campaign signs being stolen or vandalized. I saw what may be the first such complaint of the fall when picking up reports this morning at Monroe Police Department – two presidential campaign signs vandalized on at a home on Godfroy St.

It’s hard not to take those vandalism incidents personally.

I remember serving as campaign manager in college when a friend of mine was running for a residence hall government post. We didn’t swarm the dorm with paper fliers, we just posted a few in very deliberate locations.

My friend was irate when she saw some of her signs had been vandalized.

We never found out who did that. It’s not like my friend had any enemies in the dorm.

The culprits were either people who just felt like being malicious, or who supported the other candidates.

My friend tied for the office she sought in the first election, and lost in the runoff.

But the story of what happened in my dorm is pretty applicable to what happens in the real world.

Some people are just malicious and they’re going to wreck or steal whatever happens to be in the targeted yard or neighborhood.

Some people do it because they support the other candidates.

And election sign vandalism and theft really does happen every year.

Try not to take it personally.

By DOUG DONNELLY, City Editor, doug@monroenews.com
The Monroe Evening News has started its annual process of interviewing candidates for state and county offices to help in making endorsements before the November election.
The Editorial Board invites candidates to the office for a sit-down interview. We ask a series of questions to each candidate in the same race. The meetings usually last about an hour. It’s not really a debate, but candidates may speak to each other or even ask each other a question – it’s up to the candidate whether or not they want to respond.
Our first interviews were this week.
55th District State Rep. Kathy Angerer, D-Dundee, came to the office Monday. Her opponent, Frank Moynihan did not accept the invitation. In fact, we never heard back from him. (He also chose not to send in a candidate biographical form that we will print in our upcoming election tab.)
(more…)