Until recently, at least, there was only one issue in Michigan: busing. An appeals court has now delayed the implementation of Judge Stephen Roth’s order, which would have required immediate cross-district busing of pupils not only within Wayne County (which includes Detroit), but among several neighboring counties as well. But although the delay may have cooled the passions of the voters (80 per cent of whom oppose busing to achieve integration), Democrats have certainly lost support in the southeastern part of the state, their traditional stronghold. “I’ve been a Democrat all my life,” one hears frequently, “but this year . . .”
The character of Michigan politics this year was determined by the May primary, which George Wallace won with over half the Democratic vote. Part of his total is accounted for by Republican crossovers, part by a sympathy vote (the primary took place the day after be was shot); but there is no doubt that the balloting did indeed “send them a message.” For a while, that message seemed to have reached even George McGovern: Breaking a postwar tradition among Democrats, he did not begin his presidential campaign in Detroit on Labor Day. His absence on that day was generally construed in the state as his nolo contendere; after all, a Detroit News poll showed him trailing President Nixon by 16 per cent throughout the state; clearly he would have been wasting his time in Michigan. But then subsequent polls suggested that he was wasting his time everywhere else as well; so he came to Michigan.
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