There is a gentleness in Michigan that you just can't replicate.

A number of us had conversations with the Kerry campaign about what he was going to say about CAFE. What he told us was that he did not want to sacrifice jobs and that he wanted to work with the auto industry to achieve that goal.

It's that Romney is taking advantage of the government's "free stuff," too, and has been profiting from it handsomely for a long, long time - even as he rails about the "free stuff" that the government provides other people.

Concentrating wealth in the hands of the few and deregulating financial institutions and practices lead to speculative bubbles that eventually burst — and that brings the whole country down.

So we just hope that all of these governors who are grappling will be able to provide the basic services to our citizens and not have to cut things that really are painful.

Today in America we are no more "post-racial" than we are "post-partisan." We have a long way to go.

We have gasoline at $2 a gallon. If that doesn't drive demand, I don't know what will.