Poor economy is Granholm's No. 1 challenge
Michigan's voters have spoken. Despite the appeal of electing a businessman to help the state recover from its dire economic malaise, they chose to stick with Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Tuesday's victory is remarkable. Republican challenger Dick DeVos spent about $35 million of his own money and another $6 million his campaign raised to attack the state's poor economy and Granholm's failure to turn it around. The Amway heir pointed to Michigan's distinction as the nation's leader in unemployment and its recession in the face of a national economic recovery.
Voters didn't hold Granholm responsible for the state's hard times. The national displeasure with Republicans certainly helped the Democratic governor.
Despite her victory, Michigan still is in the throes of a single-state recession, and too many residents are without jobs. Voters said DeVos wasn't the answer. That means Granholm must come up with a plan.
The governor's first term largely was defined by resolving the state's fiscal crisis. The billions of dollars in deficit-reducing cut from state budgets arguably made Michigan's government lean, the first step in fostering a favorable business climate. Now, the state needs Granholm's vision.
Her campaign was hard-fought. Much of it, unfortunately, focused on the negative. The attack ads she and DeVos traded did little to shape a strategy for Michigan's future. For the most part, the candidates battled over what the other didn't do, not what they would do.
Granholm must devote her second term to possibilities. Some already have emerged.
In tapping the state's tobacco settlement money, she is directing $1 billion toward supporting small businesses in technology, alternative energy, life sciences and homeland security. She also has directed state money to needed infrastructure improvements - particularly, Michigan's deplorable highway system.
She opposed the early repeal of the Single Business Tax, but she, too, opposes it as an obstacle to business growth. Replacing the $1.9 billion a year the SBT generated undoubtedly is a challenge, one the governor hoped to avoid.
SBT's demise also is an opportunity. Ending the tax offers the chance to devise a less burdensome means of asking the business community to support state government and to forge a more favorable climate for economic progress. There also is good reason to reform the state's personal property tax on business equipment.
Despite those steps, Michigan's turnaround is a long-term endeavor. It demands cooperation.
Now that voters have affirmed Granholm's leadership, it's time for Democrats and Republicans to face the state's economic challenges - together - and work for better days.