Victory 2000 Exec. Dir.: Matt Becker

Michigan Republican State Committee
Chairman: Rusty Hills
Exec. Dir: Mark Hoffman
Office: 2121 E. Grand River, Lansing

Coordinated Campaign Director: George Rakis
 

Michigan Democratic State Central Committee
Chairman: Mark Brewer
Exec. Assistant: Sylvia Perkins 
Offices: 606 Townsend, Lansing   1550 Howard, Detroit

Oct. 31 -- Lynne Cheney town hall meeting at St. Claire Community College in Port Huron; visits Ele's Place at the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Lansing; stops in at the Michigan Bush-Cheney headquarters on Frandor Street in Lansing; children's Halloween event at Muskegon Community Museum; coffee at private home in Muskegon.

Oct. 30 -- "Gore Detectors" -- Govs. Janklow (SD) and Rowland (CT) and Texas Democrat Ken Armbrister and economic advisor Larry Lindsey make stops in Farmington Hills, Lansing and Grand Rapids.

Oct. 24 -- "Barnstorm for Reform" --  Govs. Engler (MI), Rowland (CT), Janklow (SD) and Racicot (MT) and Texas Democrat Sandy Kress make stops at a daycare center in Southfield and at the Capitol in Lansing.

Oct. 23 -- Former President George H.W. Bush rallies at Hope College in Holland and at Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic schools in Warren.

Oct. 18 -- "W stands for Women" bus tour:  Former First Lady Barbara Bush and Laura Bush with Michigan first lady Michelle Engler and Secretary of State Candice Miller start with a rally at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids in Grand Rapids, through  Lansing, finishing in Southfield.  Meanwhile, Lynne Cheney and Condoleezza Rice went from Grand Rapids to Saganaw and Flint before joining up in Southfield.

Allies
NRA Oct. 17 -- "Vote Freedom First" rallies with Charlton Heston at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids, in DeWitt and at IMA Sports Arena in Flint.

Nov. 4 -- Rob Reiner, Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Alfre Woodard and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld” ) rally for Gore and Democratic candidates at Michigan State University in East Lansing (part of multi-state tour).

Nov. 2 -- Tipper Gore, two daughters, six "Lieberman Ladies," singer Melissa Etheridge, actresses Susan Dey and Cicely Tyson, Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman and state political candidates GOTV rally at Oakland University in Rochester Hills.

Nov. 2 --On a 24-hour "Lieberman Women Fly-around," several events: Hadassah Lieberman at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek.  Mother, sisters and daughter in law of Joe Lieberman hold seniors roundtable at Henry Ford Village in Dearborn; followed by a rally at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Oct. 24 -- Sen. Carl Levin (MI) bird-dogs Bush campaign's "Barnstorm for Reform" stops in Southfield and Lansing.

Oct. 21 -- Kathleen McGinty and Christopher DeMuth, environmental advisors to Gore and Bush, debate at Society of Environmental Journalists conference at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Oct. 16 -- Tipper Gore addresses supporters and undecided voters in the cafeteria at Bay De Noc Community College in Escanaba.

Sept. 19 -- Karenna Gore Schiff and Rebecca Lieberman address supporters at Michigan State University in Lansing.

Sept. 18 -- Hadassah Lieberman tours the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, meets with health care workers in Berkley; tours the Villa Maria Retirement Community and meets with residents and their families in Grand Rapids.

Allies
Sierra Club   Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Carl Pope in Michigan.
AFL-CIO   Oct. 16 -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in Lansing and Grand Rapids.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Nov. 21, 2000 report) spending in Michigan on TV advertising by the Bush campaign, Republican party and supportive groups in the period from June 1 to Nov. 7, 2000 totaled $7,458,514.
 

According to the Brennan Center for Justice (Nov. 21, 2000 report) spending in Michigan on TV advertising by the Gore campaign, Democratic party and supportive groups in the period from June 1 to Nov. 7, 2000 totaled $9,704,302.
 

[Also, note that the chairman of the Arab-American Institute, George R. Salem, served as National Chair of Arab Americans for Bush/Cheney, while the president of the AAI, James Zogby was Chair of Arab Americans for Gore].
 

1. Getting out the largest possible number of voters in Detroit.  "We put a lot of time and a lot of resources into the city," said Platt.  The organizations of Mayor Dennis Archer and Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara helped.  Gore's strong performance in Detroit also provided a key boost to Democratic Senate candidate Debbie Stabenow, who won the state by a much narrower margin than Gore (plurality of 67,259 votes compared to Gore's plurality of  217,279).

2. Macomb, Oakland and Western Wayne counties.  Macomb (on the east) and Oakland (on the west) are the two big counties north of Detroit (Wayne County); Gore narrowly carried these counties, securing just under 50% of the vote in each.

3. Flint (Genesee County).  Platt notes that the economy had not rebounded in Flint.  Early polling showed Gore was not performing there as well as he should have.  The prosperity theme "was not a real good sell," Platt observed.  A television spot tailored to communities like Flint was produced and there was also a radio spot (Reyes).  Gore visited Flint three times: on Sept. 4, Oct. 18 and Nov. 5.

The UAW, with 447,000 members in Michigan as of Oct. 2000 (268,000 active and 179,000 retirees), is a major force in Michigan politics.  Although the union did not endorse Gore until Aug. 2000, by Election Day it was firmly behind him.  The UAW contract negotiated with Ford, GM, Daimler Chrysler, Delphi and Visteon in Oct. 1999 includes a paid holiday on Election Day; this gave Gore and Democratic candidates an added boost.

Proposal 1 ("To Permit the State to Indirectly Support Nonpublic School Students"), a proposed constitutional amendment which would have provided for tuition vouchers in failing school districts and for teacher testing, affected the atmospherics of the presidential race to a degree.  Reportedly Gov. Engler had opposed putting it on the ballot.  Prop. 1 initially seemed to be faring well, but on Election Day it went down to defeat by a more than two to one margin.  It proved to be a tricky issue for Bush.  "The word voucher never came out of his mouth," Platt said.

Michigan remained in play right to the end.  Platt said the campaign's polling data consistently showed him with a four-point lead, but he heard after the election that Bush's tracking polls had showed the Republican was ahead.  Gore made two  stops in Flint on Nov. 6.