MACKINAC ISLAND -- What would happen if you took virtually all of Michigan's leading politicians, the state's top business leaders and much of the media, and confined them on a tiny island in the middle of northern Lake Huron?
You'd have the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual Mackinac Policy conference, which has been happening every May since the early 1980s. "Every year it seems to get a little bigger," said Dick Blouse, president and CEO of the chamber.
Normally Mackinac Island is home only to a semi-tacky array of fudge and souvenir shops, a picturesque fort from the War of 1812 (the British landed here) a rustic cemetery where some of the state's greatest leaders are buried, and a lot of very expensive vacation homes.
But by the time the conference began Thursday morning, at least 1,700 movers, shakers, journalists and wannabes had packed themselves onto the 3.8-square-mile island, where cars are not permitted and horse-drawn carts are the only form of transportation.
Lots of those attending are there, as always, to see and be seen. Some come to network, look for new jobs or run for office. Yet there seems to be slightly more seriousness about this year's meeting. This year's conference theme is "building a stronger Michigan," and nobody doubts the need to do precisely that.
The state that was once the industrial powerhouse of the nation and the arsenal of democracy is in trouble, and everyone at the conference knows it. Michigan's unemployment is the highest in the nation, as everyone on Mackinac knows.
The state has fewer college-educated young adults than average. Those who do graduate are all too-often hightailing it off to Chicago, the most popular destination of choice, or cities in the prosperous western states. Thousands of less-educated and older workers who have spent their lives in now-closed auto plants are fighting despair.
Meanwhile, the governing class has been hamstrung in recent years by the effect of term limits, which has tended to zero out experience and collective memory, and by increasingly bitter partisan gridlock, not to mention Detroit's titanic scandal.
These are all facts of which the attendees on Mackinac are acutely aware.
All of this has helped give a sense of urgency to this year's conference, with ambitious sessions on everything from job creation to alternative energy and reducing the brain drain.
Edsel Ford, the great-grandson of the man Ford Motor Co. often refers to as "the founder," is hard at work promoting "One D," his year-old model for regional cooperation between Detroit and its now richer and far more populous suburbs.
He tried to be optimistic, but didn't sugar-coat the state of the state. He outlined five top priorities and gave the state grades of "needs improvement," in the categories of economic prosperity, quality of life and regional transit.
But Ford gave Michigan failing grades for educational preparedness and race relations. "We have to change our whole cultural mindset," he told the conference.
Nobody doubted his wisdom, but what is less clear was whether the conference would in fact lead to greater regional cooperation and consensus. In the past, leaders have frequently agreed in principle on reforms or action plans (such as building mass transit) only to have the agreement crumble even as participants headed down I-75 for home.
All too often, local politicians have had a vested interest in getting re-elected by bashing other parts of the state. This has been especially true in election years, and 2008 could be shaping up as the mother of all election years. This much seems certain: There will be far less of a rush to be photographed with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick than in other years.
Nor will all the things talked about at this year's conference come to pass over the next 12 months, whatever the participants pledge. Last year's Mackinac gathering was notable for broad agreement that the new Michigan Business Tax should be revenue neutral. That lasted until a budget agreement failed, and panicked legislators stuck a last-minute hefty surcharge on the tax. (They still aren't sure how much revenue it will bring.)
Then, too, the consensus at the 2007 conference was this year's presidential election was bound to feature a match between Hillary Clinton and native son Mitt Romney. What will happen in the year ahead isn't certain, but it seems pretty clear that the Mackinac conferees won't have Mitt Romney to kick around anymore.
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