Some things haven't changed along Michigan's gubernatorial campaign trail since statehood was achieved in 1837.
Most notably, our cycle of economic boom, bust and rebound continues in the wake of forces beyond state control. Term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm is the third consecutive chief executive to inherit a deficit and budget woes from a predecessor.
Another recurring and related issue is the level and kind of taxes. Campaign debates about this abound through the ages. As 1963-69 Republican Gov. George Romney observed: "The inequities and weakness of Michigan's tax structure have been documented time and again."
But there has been profound change on one front just since Granholm won her second term in 2006 -- campaign technology. New media has candidates atwitter about multiple ways to reach out to voters who will pick her successor in 2010.
Politicians of both parties across the nation are embracing interactive cyber campaign techniques that proved so successful last year for now-President Barack Obama.
Lt. Gov. John Cherry, early frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in Michigan and, he says, first lieutenant governor in the nation to go on Twitter, activated a Web site April 2 that has pages for Twitters, blogs and a "newsroom" that includes endorsements and other political material as well as grants and other official items that he announces.
Cherry said the site, www.peopleforcherry.com, also features posters and stickers to download and print (more than 100 people ordered them the first two weeks, and he gained 1,129 Twitter "followers.") and "widgets to bring our site directly to your Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle or Yahoo! account, or to any Web page or blog you want."
Hip as she is now to the new media, those are words that would have been alien to Granholm when she entered elective politics.
Cherry already has about a dozen people on his campaign staff, including two full-time staffers running new media -- Director Mike Muscat, 39, veteran of 15 years in the advertising industry, and Deputy Director Graham Davis, 22, fresh from Michigan State University.
I cite this because it underscores how Cherry, 58, a longtime legislator who has been kicking around the Capitol for 27 years, this far in advance of November 2010 has implemented techniques we will be hearing much more about in coming months. "He gets it," says Davis.
Chris DeWitt, campaign media guru for Cherry as he was for ex-Attorney General Frank Kelley and Granholm, recalls that when he started working in northern Michigan on now-Sen. Carl Levin's campaign long ago, it was a big deal just to have two-way communication via fax.
DeWitt says that while TV ads will account for the bulk of the campaign budget, the new media site is a highly cost-effective way to connect directly and rapidly with voters on issues that they have indicated are important to them.
That's a view shared by John Yob, who had major roles with the Midwest and then national campaign for 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain. He said, "You have to communicate with how (those you want to reach) communicate" -- and younger generations are tuned to new media.
Yob now has a key role in helping Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder gear up for a bid for the Republican nomination. It's for sure that Snyder, a former president of the Gateway computer outfit and now top dog of one of the nation's largest investment firms focused on micro and nanotechnology companies, will be widget-wise on new media. Snyder, traveling this week in his GMC Yukon hybrid, scheduled a Tuesday kickoff in Marquette and Escanaba for his first "Statewide Listening Tour" and then, after stops in Cheboygan, Alpena, Gaylord and Charlevoix, a full day Thursday in Traverse City.
Shoe leather and stamp licking are less important these days in other than local campaigns.
But old-fashioned campaigning still counts. It's good to see U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, vowing in his gubernatorial quest to periodically campaign by bike as he long has in his congressional district. And he's going to pull brief duty in various regular jobs. Gimmicks, but good for the local coverage.
About the time that Cherry announced his new media gig, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, launched a package of multimedia contacts, including a new Web site and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, offering, he said, "constituents more ways than ever to contact and stay up-to-date with the latest developments from Capitol Hill." Go to camp.house.gov and you will immediately see on your screen a gesturing trim fellow in a blue suit say in a loud voice: "Hi. I'm Dave Camp. Welcome to my Web site."
In announcing his project, Camp's office said, "The goal of the new multimedia sites is increased transparency, to keep constituents updated with easy-to-use formats and user-friendly features.
"So friend Camp on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, see his latest videos on YouTube and check out the new Web site and submit your photos."
Camp also uses the device of making robo phone calls to unsuspecting constituents inviting them to stay on the line and join other constituents in asking him questions. Another northern congressman, Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, recently began the practice.
Oh, how far we have come in adding perks since Capitol Hill politicians got free postage as an advantage of incumbency.
"Friend him on Facebook. Follow him on Twitter" -- it's a new political world out there.
But old ways still count in the era of new media, which draws much of its fodder from reliable old media.
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
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