111 Days
Until Election Day

July 16, 2008

NEW SERVICE FOR ALL REPUBLICAN ANY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE -
congressional, state representative, county-wide, county
commission, township candidate and Republican non-partisan office
holders/seekers…get your own website with integrated
contribution and voter contact info for only $79 per
campaign.  We have mocked up a sample using Holly Hughes campaign for State
Representative.

A more advanced
version with more features and greater flexibility is available for
$295 per campaign.  Here’s what Jack
Hoogendyk’s page would look like:

County Commission
candidates, State Rep Candidates and Republican non-partisan
officer holders/seekers are all eligible for this great fundraising
and contact service.

For more information
contact: lward@migop.org or
rmacomber@migop.org

McCAIN
HEADQUARTERS….in Michigan is now open. Folks keep asking for
the address and contact info…here it is:

McCain Great Lakes
Regional HQ and Michigan Victory Center
31440 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 100
Farmington Hills, MI  48344

Michigan@JohnMcCain.com

TEL:
248-579-4578

OBAMA ON THE
ISSUES…where is he today on any issue? Who knows? Mr. Obama
has a character problem…you just can’t trust him?!?
Iraq, public financing, town hall debates, FISA, old friends vs new
friends, gun control and the list goes on…and on. Who is the
real Barack Obama? Someone willing to say anything it takes to get
elected…politics as usual…or even
worse.

NET NEUTRALITY AND
INTERNET TECHNOLOGY…has become critical for an informed
electoral.  We as Republicans have to take better advantage of
these tools and protect the infrastructure from would be monopoly
forces that would regulate or hamper access to bandwidth. 
Read
an op-ed I wrote with David All in POLITICO.

FREE…HELP THE
GOP…I am excited to announce a revolutionary new tool
allowing you to stay connected to the Michigan GOP and raise
valuable contributions, without spending a dime! We are facing one
of the toughest elections in history and we need your help to make
a victory possible. You can make a difference by
downloading and using the new Michigan GOP Toolbar. The Michigan
GOP Toolbar will help you raise money for the Michigan Republican
Party through regular online activities such as searching and
shopping! You will also receive all the breaking news, updates, and
messages from the Michigan GOP! Show your support by joining
thousands of other Michigan party members in raising valuable
contributions for our party for free! Track your personal
contributions in real time and learn that together we can make a
difference!

http://www.migop.org/toolbar/

THE BOTTOM
LINE… Every time you perform simple searches on the web
using your toolbar (powered by Yahoo), you’ll be raising funds for
the Michigan Republican Party. The best part is, once you register,
you can track these donations right from your toolbar so you can
see exactly how much you’ve contributed.  It’s easy and
it costs you NOTHING.

DRILL
HERE…DRILL NOW…President Bush just signed an
executive order to allow offshore drilling along our coast. 
Congress still must act before Americans can start searching for
oil offshore, and we must keep the pressure on them until they take
action to lower our gas prices. We plan to accomplish this by
collecting 3,000,000 "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." petition
signatures that we’ll present to both the Republican and Democrat
Conventions in August. You can help us reach this goal by inviting
your friends and family to
sign the petition by clicking here.

************************************************************************

FOR THE LATEST NEWS,
COMMENTARY & INFORMATION:

Check…out…our…online
Articles of Interest………News…you…can…use………

************************************************************************

THE REST OF THE
STORY:

MICHIGAN GOP TOOL BAR…IT
MAKES US MONEY…I am excited to announce a revolutionary new
tool allowing you to stay connected to the Michigan GOP and raise
valuable contributions, withoutspending a dime! We are facing one
of the toughest elections in history and we need your help to make
a victory possible. You can make a difference by downloading and
using the new Michigan GOP Toolbar. The Michigan GOP Toolbar will
help you raise money for the Michigan Republican Party through
regular online activities such as searching and shopping! You will
also receive all the breaking news, updates, and messages from the
Michigan GOP! Show your support by joining thousands of other
Michigan party members in raising valuable contributions for our
party for free! Track your personal contributions in real time and
learn that together we can make a difference!

http://www.migop.org/toolbar/

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my
Articles of Interest online.

Bush Says Drill, Drill, Drill — and Oil Drops
$9!

Larry Kudlow

In a dramatic move
yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on
offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his
new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing
the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and
elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or
6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the
barrel price down to $136.

Now isn’t this
interesting?

Democrats keep
saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the
offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline
for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash
so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as
to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain
— all of them.

Traders took a look
at a feisty and aggressive George Bush and started selling the
market well before a single new drop of oil has been lifted. What
does this tell us? Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil
prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders
work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can
turn on a dime. 

The New Reality
in Iraq

By FREDERICK W.
KAGAN , KIMBERLY KAGAN AND JACK KEANE 

All of the most
important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq.
The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been
dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other
Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted.

The result is that we have an extraordinary — but fleeting –
opportunity to advance America’s security and the stability of a
vital region of the world.

Will Romney’s Combative Style Net VP
Nod?

CBSNews.com political reporter
Scott Conroy

Mitt Romney spent over $35 million
of his own money and more than a year of his life on a bid for the
presidency that fell short and ended abruptly. The former
Massachusetts governor is not one to wallow in failure, but even
for the incurably optimistic Romney, portraying his unsuccessful
run in a positive light would seem an impossible task. Still, he
manages.

"In some respects it’s ideal,"
Romney said only half-jokingly as he sat down for an exclusive
national interview with CBSNews.com before addressing the crowd at
the opening of John McCain’s Great Lakes regional headquarters.
"Get out of the race just before summer so you can spend some time
with the family at the beach."

Despite his deep summer tan,
Romney has been anything but a beach bum as of late. Since dropping
out of the Republican race in February, he has gone from being John
McCain’s fiercest rival to one of the Arizona senator’s most
visible surrogates. What was inconceivable during the height of
their primary battles, the prospect of a McCain/Romney ticket, is
now a real possibility. 

The $4 Billion
Senator

Wall Street
Journal

The federal takeover
of IndyMac Bank over the weekend could cost the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. between $4 billion and $8 billion. But Senator
Chuck Schumer, who helped to precipitate the collapse by
publicizing a letter to the bank’s regulator last month, has no
remorse.

He was, he says,
just doing his job in telling regulators that the bank "could face
a collapse," a prophecy that quickly proved to be self-fulfilling.
"It’s what legislators are supposed to do," the New York Democrat
told the Journal. Depositors who spent Monday trying to recover
some of their money might beg to differ.

The Office of Thrift
Supervision (OTS), whose job it actually was to regulate IndyMac,
took a different view. "The immediate cause of the closing," the
OTS wrote in a press release, "was a deposit run that began and
continued after the public release of a June 26 letter to the OTS
and the FDIC from Senator Charles Schumer of New York." The OTS
added: "In the following 11 business days, depositors withdrew more
than $1.3 billion from their accounts."

Obama: Going
Through Withdrawal

By Pete
Hegseth

As someone who
monitors the Iraq-war-policy debate closely, I was puzzled to open
the New York Times and see an oped authored by Sen. Barack Obama
entitled “My Plan for Iraq.” Besides the seemingly
moderate tone and calling for an Afghanistan “surge”
(an idea I agree, and one proposed by Sen. Joe Lieberman in March)
not much in the piece is new or newsworthy. In the final analysis,
the oped is another dogmatic addendum to Obama’s
“withdrawal at any cost” position.

In fact, just one
question entered my head when I finished reading: Why now? Why
would Sen. Obama — or any legislator, for that matter —
write such a piece before visiting the country for himself, seeing
the situation with his own eyes, and speaking with commanders and
troops who actually know what’s going on?

It strikes me that
only someone who is signaling no interest in consulting with
commanders on the ground would spell out his “plan” for
Iraq just one week before he visits the country for the first time
in 918 days. Only someone who is arrogant enough to believe he
always knows best would outline his Iraq policy before once meeting
one-on-one with General David Petraeus. 

GM announces new restructuring
plan

By Matt
Franklin

The announcement
made Tuesday morning includes further reductions in truck capacity,
although the company would not be specific.

Affected retirees and surviving spouses will receive a pension
increase to help offset their costs. Dividends on common stock are
suspended immediately.
 

GM aims to keep
automaker afloat

Did you ever expect
to hear a General Motors boss say "liquidity" as many times as Rick
Wagoner did Tuesday in outlining the company’s latest cuts? In this
context, consider "liquidity" the company’s ability to stay afloat
– to pay the bills every week.

That’s the struggle
facing GM even as it rushes to bring new higher-mileage vehicles to
market in a sorry economy where gasoline prices are pinching
everything, real estate values have tanked, credit is tight and
consumer confidence has been shaken to the bone. And so GM will cut
jobs, production, retiree health care, promotions and anything else
it can to remain stable without permanently damaging the core
business.

Around here, where
GM still has tens of thousands of employees and retirees, that’s
going to ripple through everything from housing to fast
food.

Granholm: NOW
she’s starting to get it

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
• FREE PRESS

LANSING –
Thirteen companies will create 4,000 direct new jobs around the
state with the help of state tax breaks, Gov. Jennifer Granholm
announced Tuesday.

In all, the firms
will invest $231 million in new and expanded operations to produce
goods and services ranging from solar panels, jet engine parts,
online, insurance and packaging.

One British company will build a research facility in Auburn Hills
to develop and market its amphibious car. 

Mayor
Kilpatrick’s legal fund gets $185K

David Josar, Leonard
N. Fleming and Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News

DETROIT — Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick has raised $185,600 since April 4 for his legal
defense, with more than half coming from banker Don Davis and a
Clinton Township development company, according to IRS documents
released Tuesday.

Davis, the chairman
of First Independence Bank, and Medici Homes each gave $50,000,
leading a heavily suburban list of donors. Among the 31 donors:
$3,000 from a strip club on Eight Mile; $5,000 from a political
action committee of U.S. Rep. John Clyburn, D-S.C.; and $10,000
from Waste Management Inc., the Houston waste
conglomerate.

About 10 percent of
Kilpatrick’s money came from residents of the city he leads. Most
of the donations, $126,000, came the first month the Detroit
Justice Fund was formed. Last month, it collected $800. After
shelling out $165,000 for lawyers to defend Kilpatrick on eight
felonies, the fund has $20,000 left, according to
documents.

Democrats See a
Need for Further Economic Stimulus

By PETER S. GOODMAN
and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Many economists have
concluded that a second dose of government stimulus spending is
required to prevent a broad economic unraveling and provide relief
to millions of Americans grappling with joblessness, plunging home
prices and tight credit.

Democratic leaders
in Congress have already begun fashioning a package of proposed
measures, but on Tuesday, President Bush and the Federal Reserve
chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, both pronounced such action
premature.

“Our economy
has demonstrated remarkable resilience,” President Bush said
at a morning news conference, even as he acknowledged that growth
had been “slower than we would have
liked.”