You saw the Libertarian guy on TV? Back in the day, the biggest complaint that the Libertarians had was that they couldn't get on TV no matter what. They didn't have the money to advertise on TV, but they thought that the news media ought to mention them once in awhile, and they never did. Our local paper never reported the Libertarian vote count either. One year they reported that one person in Cheboygan County voted for the Communist Party, and I know that a least one person voted Libertarian as well, but they never reported that. The closest they came was to say that a few people voted "Independent", although there were in fact no Independent candidates on the ballot. I don't think you can even run as an Independent in Michigan, at least I've never seen nor heard tell of it.
Our state judges run on a separate "non-partisan" ballot. They are in fact nominated by the Democrats and the Republicans, but the ballot doesn't show that. We usually get something in the mail that says the Republicans or the Democrats "recommend" the following judicial candidates on the non-partisan ballot, but they don't come right out and say that the party nominated them. Our city council and our local school board elections really are non-partisan, but the state school boards are partisan.
Michigan seems to alternate between Democrat and Republican governors, but our U.S. Senators have both been Democrats for as long as I can remember. Carl Levin was in there for decades and, when he finally retired in 2012, I figured that the Reps had a chance because everybody was pissed off at Obama. Well, Michigan went for Obama that year, and Levin was replaced by another Democrat. Then, in 2014, our RINO governor was re-elected, in spite of the way he had pissed everybody off on both sides for the previous four years. Now they are calling for his impeachment because of the Flint water crisis, although I have not heard any evidence that he had anything to do with that. Some of his people were to blame for sure, but I don't think he was directly responsible himself.
Then there's Dr. Dan Benishek, U.S. Representative of Michigan's First Congressional District. (Hey, we're number one!) Actually, I think they just started the numbers at the top of the map and worked their way down. The 1st district encompasses the whole Upper Peninsula and a few counties in the Lower, including Cheboygan, and is the biggest Michigan district in area. Cheboygan County has been solidly Republican for a long time, but the U.P consistently voted Democrat until Dr. Dan came along. He was your classic tea party upstart, no political experience, and was swept in on the wave of discontent over Obamacare. He promised to serve only two terms, I suppose believing that's all the time it would take for him and his ilk to straighten out the country, but ended up running a third time in 2014 and winning by a mere five votes. He is not running this time, and his office is considered to be "up for grabs" because nobody knows how those flip-flopping Yoopers are going to vote.
Don't worry, Trump is not going to win. All the polls say that, and most people vote the way the polls tell them to. I did see one poll that predicted the Libertarian guy would get 11%, taking 4% away from Trump and 6% away from Hillary, but Hillary still won. I would be surprised if the Libertarians really got 11%, but I suppose anything is possible in this goofy election.
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