Michigan Attorney General election, 2010

State Attorney General 2010 elections
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2010 Election information
Primary election dates Statewide elections, 2010 November 2nd General Election results National Association of Attorneys General
Attorney General news headlines

The Michigan Attorney General election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010. Republican incumbent Mike Cox, unable to run for re-election due to term limits, announced he would instead enter the election for governor.

Following state conventions held by both major political parties in the last weekend of August, former judge Bill Schuette (Republican) defeated Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton (Democrat), Daniel W. Grow (Libertarian) and Gerald Van Sickle (U.S. Taxpayers Party) in the general election.

Race tracking

See also: 2010 State Attorneys General/Election Racetracking

Both Ballotpedia and Governing magazine predicted a Republican win.

2010 Race Rankings for Michigan Attorney General
Race Tracker		Race Rating
Ballotpedia		Leans Republican
Governing		Likely Republican
Overall Call		Leans Republican

General Election campaign

Candidates

Republican Party - Former judge Bill Schuette
Democratic Party - Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton
Libertarian Party - Kalamazoo attorney Daniel W. Grow
U.S. Taxpayers Party (Constitution Party) - Gerald Van Sickle

General election results

2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	a Bill Schuette	52.3%
	Democratic Party	David Leyton	43.5%
	Libertarian Party	Daniel W. Grow	2.3%
	U.S. Taxpayers	Gerald Van Sickle	1.9%
Total Votes			3,136,224

Debate

September 24th - WKAR TV

Tim Skubick, 6 News Capitol Correspondent and host of public television's "Off the Record" program, moderated the first debate between the two major party candidates in the state attorney general contest - Democrat David Leyton and Republican Bill Schuette - located at the WKAR TV station in East Lansing on Friday, September 24th.

Click here to view the entire debate

Endorsements

David Leyton

• Communications Workers of America (CWA)
• Lansing State Journal, local newspaper
• Michigan AFL-CIO

Bill Schuette

• Michigan Chamber of Commerce
• Michigan Retailers Association (MRA)
• Oakland Press, local newspaper
• Right to Life of Michigan Political Action Committee (RLM-PAC)

Polling

See also: Polls, 2010 State Attorney General elections

Glengariff Group Poll

Glengariff Group Inc., a strategic planning and marketing research company based out of Chicago, surveyed 600 likely voters from across Michigan between September 7 and 8, 2010. The polling data indicated that Leyton is suffering from two major issues. The first is that despite having secured the support of the his state party months earlier then Schuette, he has failed to utilize the time properly in making his name familiar to state voters. The survey shows that Schuette enjoys a 43.5% name identification compared to the 23.5% of Leyton. The Democratic prosecutor is also struggling with independents with interviewed unaffiliated voters backing Schuette over Leyton 40.8% - 21.6%, though 35.3% remain undecided.

Glengariff Group Poll - September 7 – 8, 2010
Candidates		Percentage
Bill Schuette (R)		43.2%
David Leyton (D)		34.0%
Undecided		21.8%
Total voters		600

Public Policy Poll

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic Party-affiliated polling firm based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, surveyed 497 likely Michigan voters from across the state between September 17 and 19, 2010. The polling data shows very little difference from the Glengariff survey conducted less then two weeks earlier. The only slight difference that can be noted is that Leyton demonstrates a slight gain among unaffiliated voters with polling numbers showing him with 25% support opposite Schuette's 40% showing; thirty-five percent remain undecided.

Public Policy Poll - September 17 – 19, 2010
Candidates		Percentage
Bill Schuette (R)		43%
David Leyton (D)		36%
Undecided		22%
Total voters		497

Convention candidates

See also: Michigan gubernatorial election, 2010; Michigan Secretary of State election, 2010

Michigan parties nominate their candidates for statewide office through party conventions in the fall, not primaries.

Democratic candidates

Candidates

• Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton (Received endorsement of Michigan Democratic Party)

Drop outs

• After filing paperwork with the secretary of state's office three months earlier, State Senator Gretchen Whitmer ended her campaign in late-January 20010 so that, according to her, she could spend more time with her family.
• Attorney Richard J. Bernstein

Endorsements

David Leyton

• Michigan Democratic Party

Finances

Richard Bernstein Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Decemberl 8 - 31, 2009		January 28, 2010	$0.00	$5,474.00	$16.38	$0.00	$0.00	$5,474.00

Republican candidates

Candidates

• State Senator Michael D. Bishop
• Former judge Bill Schuette (Received endorsement of Michigan Republican Party)

Dropouts

• State Senator Bruce Patterson

Endorsements

Bill Schuette

• Congressman Fred Upton
• Mike Cox, current Michigan Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate
• John Engler, former Governor of Michigan
• Fraternal Order of Police
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee (PAC)
• Michigan Health and Hospital Association

Finances

According to the Michigan Department of State, as of June 29, 2010, here is the breakdown of campaign finances for each of the candidates:

Michael Bishop Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
February 18 - December 31, 2009		February 1, 2010	$0.00	$107,195.00	$0.00	$0.00	$31,874.11	$75,320.89

Bill Schuette Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
January 1 - December 31, 2009		February 1, 2010	$0.00	$407,215.00	$27,806.99	$0.00	$190,352.92	$217,128.15

Polling

See also: Polls, 2010 State Attorney General elections

Glengariff Group Poll

Glengariff Group Inc., a strategic planning and marketing research company based out of Chicago, surveyed 500 likely Republican primary voters from across the state between July 12 and 13, 2010. Though the nominee for state attorney general is selected during the state party convention, polling data showed that if left to the voters to decide the race would essentially be a dead heat between the two candidates.

Glengariff Group Poll - July 12 – 13, 2010
Candidates		Percentage
Mike Bishop (R)		19.4%
Bill Schuette (R)		18.8%
Undecided		61.8%
Total voters		500

Controversies

Brenda Simpson criticism

The mother of an eleven year-old little boy who was found dead in the Flint River eighteen days after he disappeared in April 1985 came out against Leyton, criticizing him for failing to prosecute her son's case. Brenda Simpson argued that, in spite of "witness statements and evidence from a new post-mortem exam that indicated he had been poisoned before he went in the river," the Genesee County prosecutor declined to file charges against the stepmother of the child in 2005 when he took up the case and refused to meet with Simpson to discuss his reasons for making this decision. Two years later, Attorney General Mike Cox was able to file formal charges and receive convictions for the stepmother and her brother in the poisoning and drowning death of the child.

False Tea Party

Conservatives and Libertarians throughout Michigan accused a newly formed political party of donning the title "TEA Party", the name given to recent conservative/libertarian political activists, under false pretenses. Critics argued that "the actual tea party movement isn't a real political party. It's a loose-knit group of conservative and libertarian activists who are irate at the spending, taxes, TARP, and other big government leftism that has gone on for the past six years." Furthermore, a number of the twenty-three candidates the party nominated for various races in November 2010 had "donated to either democratic candidates/causes or to union PACs"; none of their contributions have been to Republican/conservative candidates or causes. Conservative commentators contended that this was an attempt by liberal activists to confuse voters and siphon off two or three percent of the ballots cast in order to keep Democratic candidates in office.

MDP attack ad

The Michigan Democratic Party released an online advertisement attacking Bill Schuette, Republican candidate for state attorney general, who, at the time, had not yet secured the nomination of the Republican Party. The ad attempted to link the former state senator to the oil industry and, by association, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. During his tenure in the state legislature, Schuette had sponsored and legislation that would allow for drilling in the Great Lakes.

Critics argued, however, that the video distorted what the measure was really about. Although the legislation did allow for drilling in the region, "the vote in question was not for drilling IN the lakes but rather under it... from shore," making any comparison to the Gulf disaster farfetched.

See also

• Candidates for State Attorney General, 2010

External links

• Green Paper's list of candidates for Michigan Attorney General, 2010

General Election candidates

• David Leyton for Attorney General Campaign website
• Bill Schuette for Michigan Attorney General Campaign website
• Daniel Grow for Attorney General Campaign website

Former candidates

• Richard Bernstein for Attorney General Campaign website
• Mike Bishop for Attorney General Campaign website