Not since the late 1950s, when its cash crisis and payless paydays for state workers prompted "Michigan on the Rocks" stories, has Michigan had such a run of bad news in the national media. Over the decades, Detroit, as other big cities, has had some bad apples in City Hall.

Stealth political scam artists are taking aim on Michigan's constitution with a sweeping cockamamie bait-and-switch proposal that could further dilute northern Michigan's voice in the judicial and legislative branches.

I was pleasantly surprised last week when the 50,000-member MUCC (membership now down to about half of what it was during its glory days) announced "a major initiative to expand the state's 32-year-old bottle bill to include water and other non-carbonated beverage containers."

That ex-Govs. Bill Milliken and Jim Blanchard lack their former clout in Lansing is underscored as they and an outmanned, not-so-merry band of environmentalists buck a tide of powerful interests in the Legislature's latest debate on water laws.

Every election year since the environmental movement gained traction in the late 20th century, political war dances have been held to drum up commitments for the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes. The drums throb again.

In the battle for control of the state House, northern Michigan has three toss-up races, two of them GOP seats along shores of Lake Michigan, and some spirited primaries.

For those concerned about the Great Lakes and waters that feed them, it's a time to be wary of the ways of Washington and Lansing.

This year's GOP challenge of five-term Sen. Carl Levin shapes up as another Mission Improbable, but Michigan faces some of its most spirited challenges of congressional incumbents in decades.

If, as expected, Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee, he could have explaining to do in Michigan on a few fronts, including snubbing its primary and bashing its auto industry.

For Michigan and five other Great Lakes states, there's no more important federal official on air, water, hazardous waste and pollution control than the Chicago-based Region 5 administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

When it comes to politics and the environment, promises made have not been promises kept. Pledges to conserve and protect usually ring hollow soon after such hyped rituals as Earth Day and Arbor Day, most recently observed last week. But there is reason this year for guarded optimism.

Democrat Jennifer Granholm could be dubbed "Hollywood Jen" -- not for show-boating or because she once had acting ambitions, but rather for having touted and just signed into law what she calls "the most aggressive film incentive program in the nation.

The late Hollywood icon Charlton Heston was raised in northern Michigan, where he had his first acting stints. Not so well known is that this film legend was deeply steeped in the political history of Michigan.

Thanks, indeed, to newspapers across the land -- from New York, from Detroit, from northern Michigan.

Ex-Gov. Jim Blanchard, who remains a player in the process long after leaving office, nailed it last week in declaring that "the presidential election process is broken and we have a mess" -- most certainly this cycle in Michigan.

First District Rep. Bart Stupak of Menominee had the least liberal 2007 voting record of any of the six Democrats in the Michigan congressional delegation, according to the National Journal's recently published composite scores on 109 economic, social and foreign issues.

Over the decades, northern Michigan has had some powerful voices on Capitol Hill.

In a half century of following presidential campaigns, I have never seen anything quite like what is unfolding before us now.

Michigan faces tough times -- tougher than any other state, based on jobless and other rankings. In poll after poll asking residents whether the state is on "the right track or wrong track," about two-thirds pick wrong. But Gov. Jennifer Granholm was off track last week when she agreed that the state has an "inferiority complex."

"Judicial elections are becoming political prize fights where partisans and special interests seek to install judges who will answer to them instead of the law and the Constitution." -- Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

The quest on Capitol Hill by two Upper Peninsula tribes to gain downstate land for casinos is grandly described by the Washington Post as "a fierce multimillion lobbying battle of a scale not seen since fall of Jack Abramoff" -- imprisoned defrauder of American Indians and others.

There are some similarities and stark contrasts among the factors in last week's demise of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and that of his father's bid four decades ago. Both men were success stories in the private sector before becoming governors, and both had political battles with Arizona senators.

It's an uphill struggle, but Great Lakes governors and lawmakers are accelerating efforts to get the dwindling band of presidential candidates to commit to funding restoration of the lakes and outlawing diversion of water.

Ever so slowly, global warnings about global warming are impacting Michigan politics and state media coverage of politicians at all levels who ponder how best to reduce carbon footprints through renewable energy and other environmentally friendly actions.

Mitt Romney's decisive victory in the GOP presidential primary last week was the seventh time a Romney won a statewide contest in Michigan. They had three losses.

Mitt Romney's faltering presidential campaign seeks a lifeline Tuesday from the state where he was born and raised by a father who was governor and a mother who ran for the U.S. Senate.

In 2000, six days before Michigan's Republican primary, ex-Gov. William G. Milliken endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, who defeated eventual nominee George W. Bush by more than 100,000 votes. On Thursday, six days before Tuesday's primary, Milliken again endorsed McCain, praising "his straight talk and service to the country."

In communities across the country, one of the biggest debates is what to do about big-box stores? Lure them? Shun them? It's been a hot issue on occasion in Michigan, where, for example, one township near Hartland rejected a Wal-Mart, which is the world's largest retailer with 3,500 stores and has an image problem on some fronts. But a nearby township embraced the big foot of Meijer -- the Michigan-based, around-the-clock retailer with 181 stores in five states.

A TV ad pitch for the Jan. 15 GOP presidential primary by native son Mitt Romney begins: "And for me, Michigan is personal." It concludes: "There's a lot we can do to strengthen Michigan." John McCain, whose campaign was declared dead by some wizards of odds several weeks ago, is on the rebound and plans to retrace steps that led to his 2000 upset victory over George W. Bush in Michigan's 2000 presidential primary -- including an election eve event in Traverse City among other northern stops.

Northern Michigan's three congressmen created a stir on Capitol Hill in 2007 and are positioned for influential roles early in 2008.

Their names have been on licenses in our wallets and their branch offices abound across our two peninsulas. Most of the 41 secretaries of state had brief tours and toiled in obscurity, although two became 20th century governors -- Republicans Frank M. Fitzgerald and Harry Kelly.

There's a tentative $5 million deal to supplement the Department of Natural Resources budget and avoid the immediate need for the hike in hunting and fishing fees that the Legislature has refused to enact. But it's a one-time move that does not address the need to ensure adequate funding to conserve and protect Michigan's natural resources.

At the outset of the 2008 presidential campaign, the Boston Globe and others who have closely covered ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, of Massachusetts, over the years said he is far more cautious and guarded in public comments than his late father, ex-Gov. George Romney, of Michigan.

While still struggling with the Legislature for an overdue resolution of budget woes, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has embarked on a nine-city tour to tout what she sees as a "win-win" undertaking for both parties -- building an alternative energy industry in Michigan.

Much of the media focus on Michigan politics of late has been on the muddle of whether there will be an early 2008 presidential primary, or other means of challenging Iowa and New Hampshire's excessive clout in determining nominees.

Decades ago, when burly Tom Washington was the legendary executive director of the 100,000-member Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), he was a booming voice that helped hone the state's reputation as a leader in protecting natural resources. He had the ear of Gov. Bill Milliken, President George H.W. Bush, and, for the most part, the Michigan Legislature. But when state lawmakers got wobbly on Washington's call for a bottle/can deposit law, he launched a successful ballot drive that now makes us all soldiers in the war against litter.

Thanks to the successful bipartisan push to give Michigan more clout in the presidential nomination process, the Great Lakes are getting more early--and hopefully sustained--attention on the campaign trail than in the past.

Much was made of last week's historic deal between General Motors and the United Auto Workers that reflected current economic realities 70 years after a 44-day strike led to the UAW gaining power to bargain exclusively with GM on wages and working conditions.

On the eve of the weekend gathering of seven Republican 2008 presidential contenders on Mackinac Island, Arizona Sen. John McCain's campaign cited four national polls in asserting "we are making large gains." But the two latest statewide Michigan polls put the decorated Navy pilot and Vietnam POW in a tailspin in the state where he beat George W. Bush in the 2000 primary.

For 18 years, Republican National Committeeman Chuck Yob has been the Energizer Bunny of the Michigan GOP, bounding among 83 counties to recruit and campaign for candidates, attend hundreds of Lincoln Day dinners, and help raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

September 2007 is not a month to be savored by Michigan Democrats.

Michigan's motto asserts: "If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look About You." If you seek the most storied crossroads of Michigan history, commerce and politics, look about where the two peninsulas meet.

"Mitt” Romney was born in Detroit and grew up in Bloomfield Hills. One glance at his face is enough to send any longtime Michigan resident back to the 1960s, when his father, George Romney, was one of the state's most famous governors.