by Joseph DiSano

Dipping your toes into the on-line world of Facebook and Twitter is a bit daunting. But just like in real life, you learn quickly who actually knows what they are talking about. Here are 10 folks you should be paying attention too.

Bill Ballenger—by far the quoted and widely-known Michigan-based pundit. Ballenger is the MSM’s go to guy on all things Michigan. He is the owner and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics and in his former life was a GOP state Senator. He can be found on Twitter at @iMIpolitics and http://www.insidemichiganpolitics.com.
Chad Selweski—defiantly centrist, Chad is willing to call out extremists and hucksters from both parties including me. Recently, he wrote that I was “a little hyper, a little blood thirsty in his efforts to smash Republicans.” I don’t know if I agree with Chad’s assessment but he has the pulse of what is really going on in Macomb County politics like no other. He can be found at http://macombpolitics.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter @cbsnewsman

Greg McNeilly—Relentless is the word that best describes McNeilly. The dude never takes a day off from pushing the conservative agenda. That’s a fair trade off considering McNeilly gives the reader a good insight into the state of GOP politics here in Michigan. He is the political voice for the DeVos clan and says the things they are too polite to utter themselves. You can find McNeilly’s musings on Twitter @gregmcneilly.

Susan J. Demas—Her weekly column for MLive makes Demas Michigan’s answer to Maureen Dowd. Smart and snarky, she works by day at MIRS but her column for at MLive and her Tweets are where she shines. Not afraid to call out the charlatans from both parties, Demas is a good barometer for what the policy wonks are thinking. One downside to her cutting style is she attracts only the craziest online stalkers. I don’t know how she puts up with that but I am glad she does. You can find Susan at http://connect.mlive.com/user/sjdemas/posts.html or on Twitter @sjdemas.

Eric Baerren: The owner of MichiganLiberal.com can be relied up for a consistent liberal slant on the issues of the day. Where Baerren’s true calling lies is a as a critic of the media. From his perch in Mt. Pleasant, Baerren has no problem calling out the hypocrisy in the MSM. A pet issue to him is the false equivalency that the Press gives to all argument regardless of merit. A former journalist and Navy veteran, Baerren’s lived a real life outside of politics and it shows. Baerren takes no prisoners. Ever. That’s rare and refreshing and that’s why Eric Baerren is a must read at www.MichiganLiberal.com and @ebaerren.

Jeff Wattrick has the soul of a world-class satirist. Jeff toils for MLive covering and commentating on Detroit-area political news but he hit his stride writing the now-defunct blog, Dyspathy. Fearless is the word that best describes Wattrick. He has been withering in his criticism of Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano and the circus that is Detroit City Hall. Few writers capture the absurdity and hypocrisy of politics like Wattrick. What Wattrick does better than anyone else is put current political jockeying in a historical context. That make Wattrick a must read. You can find Wattrick at http://connect.mlive.com/user/jwattrick/index.html and on Twitter at @woodwardsfriend.

Emily Dievendorf @Moxie4More
Emily is the Director of Policy at Equality Michigan and she uses her social media platform almost exclusively to advocate for the LBGT community and good old fashioned fairness. Dievendorf is not afraid to mix it up with the forces of bigotry and the bitter defenders of the status quo. I might not always agree with her but that says more about my sense of humor more than anything. Emily is an emerging voice and someone you should be watching. Look her up on Facebook or on Twitter @Moxie4More.

Christine Barry, Blogging for Michigan
Christine is the owner of Blogging for Michigan. I find her posts to be the perfect balance of snark and fact. Additionally, Christine tends to pick up on issues that I may miss during the work day so she is essential to stay on top of. She understands on-line activism like no one else and can help put you on the correct path if you want to volunteer in the real world. She pays particular attention to the Occupy movement, Recall Efforts and the EFM law. She can be found at www.bloggingformichigan.com or on Twitter @bloggingformichigan.

Christina Kuo is the Senior Director of Public Policy and Public Affairs for the Michigan Nonprofit Association and an attorney. If you want to know what’s going on in the choice community and in Oakland County politics you need to keep an eye on Christina. I find her materal very funny in an understated way. You can find her on Twitter @christina_kuo

Amy Chapman ‏ @amyrchapman
Amy is an intriguing choice for this list. The things that many of us blather about, Amy has actually done. She has done it all in politics and at the highest levels. And her tweets reflect that. I find her posts to be cutting and to the point but where she excels is in her retweets. She has excellent taste in passing on Tweets that are consistently thought provoking. She is a curator of all things cool. Ignore her at your own peril.

A2Politico Notes: At A2Politico.com everyone is a political insider. That’s the way it should be. Local, state and national politics have increasingly become the baileywick of professionals: candidates, their staffers, ad agencies, and political analysts. Voters go to the polls less informed than ever before in increasingly smaller numbers. As the stakes get higher, the American public has become more polarized. In the January 2012 issue of Esquire magazine, former President Bill Clinton told the interviewer: “MSNBC has become our version of Fox.” Rachel Maddow, who works for MSNBC, rankles at such comparisons, as she did in a recent interview in Slate. We have “progressive”  and “conservative” bloggers, who present news from predictable and somewhat simplistic perspectives. What we don’t often have, however, are people who work in politics, who have a deep understanding of the political process, and who are willing to share their secrets and insider perspectives. Joe DiSano is just one such writer.

DiSano is a long-time veteran of Michigan politics and has experience in races across the United States. Before establishing Message Design Group, DiSano served in various key staff positions for the Michigan House Democrats and Congressman John Dingell. In 2002, Message Design Group was retained by the Michigan House Democratic Fund. DiSano was active in Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s 2001 campaign where he co-authored the field plan and contributed to the direct mail program. DiSano was the manager of Michigan State Representative George Mans’ 1996 campaign and was lead strategist on Doug Spade’s 1998 long shot race for the Michigan House of Representatives. Spade went on to become the first Democratic House member from Lenawee County since World War I. DiSano founded Main Street Strategies 2007 alongside Kelly Johnston and Todd Cook. Main Street Strategies offers political candidates and advocacy group top-notch campaign advice and strategic communication plans. Clients of Main Street Strategies include Progress Michigan, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, Michigan AFL-CIO, Environmental Defense Fund, Operating Engineers Local 325, Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, State Representative Andrew Kandrevas along with dozens of others.

The political locusts have left Michigan and are now ravaging the political landscapes of the Super Tuesday states.  What do Michigan’s progressives and Democrats have to show for our two weeks as the center of the political universe?

Quite a lot, actually.

The world now knows how damaged and flawed Mitt Romney is in his home state.

Just three weeks ago, Romney thought he could swoop into the state of his birth and snag all of the 30 delegates at stake. Oh how wrong the Mittster was.  Despite having an overwhelming financial advantage over his opponents and the entire GOP establishment on his side Romney waltzed out of Michigan with only 16 of the 30 delegates available.

Between the Romney campaign and its affiliated SuperPACs, Romney was forced to spend at least $6 million dollars to fight Santorum to a tie in Michigan. Were it not for Michigan GOP chair Bobby Schostack doing an impression of a banana republic dictator and stealing the final delegate on behalf of Romney, Michigan’s delegates would have been split equally behind Romney and Santorum–an unthinkable outcome just 30 days ago.

No onto “Operation: Hilarity.” The do-gooders and progressive purists will wring their hands at those among us who helped Rick Santorum win 7 of Michigan’s 14 Congressional Districts. They will tell you our efforts were misguided and unproductive. Some will even say our efforts were unethical and an example of dirty politics. They may be right on that last point.

Our efforts may have been dirty and unethical. I don’t think so, but I suppose honest people can debate that. What is undeniable is the effectiveness of the efforts of progressives and Democrats to help deliver delegates to Santorum.

Through our campaign of 80,000 robo-calls, 200,000 emails, several radio and TV appearances and countless print mentions leading up to primary day, a list of just under 14,000 Democrats pledged their support to Rick Santorum in the GOP primary.

Look to the results in Michigan’s sprawling 1st U.S. Congressional District. Santorum won the district by less than 1 percent or 790 votes.  Our list of Democrats in the 1st U.S. Congressional District had 800 voters agreeing to support Santorum. Look at the 13th U.S. Congressional District, where Santorum won by a margin with 1,535 votes. Our robo-call program alone identified just fewer than 1,300 Democrats willing to hold their nose and vote for Santorum in the Wayne County-based 13th CD. That doesn’t include people activated by our email blasts or media appearances.

At the least, our efforts in Michigan moved the delegates from the 1st, 7th and 13th U.S. Congressional Districts to Santorum’s column. We denied Romney the clean sweep he’d expected.

Don’t believe me?  This is what Romney’s biggest cheerleader in Michigan, Saul Anuzis said, “Exit polling shows over 100,000 Democrats voted over 3:1 for Santorum in our primary and 5 of the 7 congressional districts Santorum won were within 1,500 votes. Without Democrats & liberals voting for Santorum, Romney would have had a decisive victory here.”

The heartburn our low-budget program caused Team Romney was at least worth the time and energy exerted. Michigan Information and Research Service (MIRS) reported on Primary Night:

“The Santorum/Democrat connection only made the Romney team sweat more. Democratic consultant Joe DiSano and radio talk show host Tony Trupiano joined Santorum and his surrogates in urging Dem votes to pick the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania to elongate the primary and force Romney to exhaust his resources. In the end, Romney and his Super PAC spent much more in the Michigan’s media market than expected and Romney was forced to spend nearly his entire weekend in his home state, which also wasn’t expected.”

The fact that a rag tag band of Democrats and progressives could deny Romney the full slate of 30 delegates he was expecting, and demonstrate just how unpopular he is in his home state is a great result—a result to be proud of.

Not bad for $600.

A2P Notes: At A2Politico.com everyone is a political insider. That’s the way it should be. Local, state and to a lesser degree national politics have increasingly become the baileywick of professionals: candidates, their staffers, ad agencies, and political analysts. Voters go to the polls less informed than ever before in increasingly smaller numbers. As the stakes get higher, the American public has become more polarized. In the January 2012 issue of Esquire magazine, former President Bill Clinton told the interviewer: “MSNBC has become our version of Fox.” Rachel Maddow, who works for MSNBC, rankles at such comparisons, as she did in a recent interview in Slate. We have “progressive”  and “conservative” bloggers, who present news from predictable and somewhat simplistic perspectives. What we don’t often have, however, are people who work in politics, who have a deep understanding of the political process, and who are willing to share their secrets and insider perspectives. Joe DiSano is just one such writer.

DiSano is a long-time veteran of Michigan politics and has experience in races across the United States. Before establishing Message Design Group, DiSano served in various key staff positions for the Michigan House Democrats and Congressman John Dingell. In 2002, Message Design Group was retained by the Michigan House Democratic Fund. DiSano was active in Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s 2001 campaign where he co-authored the field plan and contributed to the direct mail program. DiSano was the manager of Michigan State Representative George Mans’ 1996 campaign and was lead strategist on Doug Spade’s 1998 long shot race for the Michigan House of Representatives. Spade went on to become the first Democratic House member from Lenawee County since World War I. DiSano founded Main Street Strategies 2007 alongside Kelly Johnston and Todd Cook. Main Street Strategies offers political candidates and advocacy group top-notch campaign advice and strategic communication plans. Clients of Main Street Strategies include Progress Michigan, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, Michigan AFL-CIO, Environmental Defense Fund, Operating Engineers Local 325, Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, State Representative Andrew Kandrevas along with dozens of others.

In his debut piece for A2Politico, DiSano explains why Michigan power brokers are lining up behind Representative Gary Peters, a white-bread, middle-aged politico, in the Michigan 14th Congressional District which is primarily African-American—one of only two black majority Congressional Districts in the state. The primary in that District has been dubbed “Michigan’s most interesting primary.” Peters is running against Representative Hansen Clarke, who is of Bangladeshi and African-American descent. Clarke chose not to challenge Representative John Conyers, but instead decided to run in the Gerrymander 500. Roll Call referred to the Michigan 14th Congressional District as one of the “ugliest” examples of gerrymandering in U.S. DiSano explains why Michigan power brokers are not keen to send Hansen Clarke back to Congress.

Politics is about choices. Some are easy. Many are excruciating and Democrats in Michigan’s new 14th Congressional District face a tough choice in August. That’s when incumbent Congressmen Hansen Clarke and Gary Peters face off in a new district that stretches from Detroit north to Pontiac.

The past few weeks have seen a slow but steady momentum towards Peters as power brokers choose sides in the primary. The latest being the UAW and SEIU announcing their endorsement of Peters. The reasons are simple but clear. Peters has raised more money than Clarke and Peters has the superior political organization both are critical to communicating to voters is a sprawling district like the 14th.

But ready access to cash is not the entire reason Peters is rapidly becoming the prohibitive favorite in this primary. Many of the decision makers just don’t take Clarke seriously. They point to The Hill naming Clarke as one of “50 Most Beautiful People for 2011” as only the most public example of Clarke’s lack of gravitas.

And Clarke’s desire for the limelight has not come without a cost. Courting the DC elite stole precious time Clarke could have used to building a formidable political war chest. Instead of playing to The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Time, Huffington Post and The Washington Post, Clarke should have tended to the home fires with the same intensity. The lack of focus has cost Clarke with the major endorsers among Michigan Democrats.

The time spent courting the DC elite and national Press would have been better spent tending to the often mundane problems of real-world voters. Clarke’s constituent relations and outreach efforts are considered among the weakest of Michigan’s Congressional delegation.

But perhaps the most damage to Clarke’s reelection is his inability to make peace with the remnants of former Representative Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick’s organization. Clark defeated Cheeks-Kilpatrick, but has done little to sway her supporters to his side. The defeat of Cheeks-Kilpatrick was ugly and created resentments that Clark has done little to repair.

Clarke needs Detroit voters to support him as a block if he is to defeat Peters. That seems unlikely with the wounds of the 2010 primary unhealed and the presence of fringe candidates such as former State Representative Mary Waters or Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence in the race. If either of them picks up even a little momentum it greatly damages the odds of Clarke returning to the DC limelight in 2013.

Perhaps the biggest mistake Clarke has made in his first term is the decision to challenge Peters in the first place. Clarke could have challenged Representative John Conyers and potentially had an easier road to re-election. Conyers is ripe for the picking and has many of the same ethical and personal issues that caused the downfall of Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick. Clarke has refused to explain his decision not to challenge Conyers, but its clear Clarke has great admiration of the elder Congressman. That courtesy may cost Clarke a seat in Congress.

Peters is not without his detractors though. Many consider him wooden and lacking Clarke’s charisma. In addition, Peters’s voting record is decidedly less liberal than Clarke’s. Peters’s supporters say that even though his record veers into Blue Dog territory, that was more a result of the conservative nature of Peters’s old district and not a reflection of Peters’s real loyalties. Peters’s liabilities are tempered with the cold reality that Peters is a tenacious campaigner with the ability to buy more air time and put more boots on the ground than Clarke.

Endorsements and money are flowing to Peters because the decision-makers know that Peters spends more time tending to the people who elected him than Clarke does. They know that Peters lacks Clarke’s flair, but Peters is more reliable and much more of a work-horse than Clarke.

Clarke’s bad decisions are making a tough decision easier for Michigan Democratic power brokers.