I’m hearing reports from Michigan that people either in the White House or very close to it are calling state GOP leaders and telling them to oppose Ward Connerly’s anti-racial-preferences initiative. Of course, if Connerly gets on the ballot, some reporter eventually will ask the president whether he supports or opposes it. He will probably respond by saying it’s a state matter, or some such thing, as he recently did when quizzed about the Gray Davis recall effort in California. Right now, however, his underlings in Washington certainly aren’t behaving as though they consider it a matter left to the voters in Michigan.