Michigan, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

"If he [Obama] didn't come through and give that vote and say, 'Yes we have got to save Chrysler. We have to save GM. We've got to do this,' all this Sterling Heights would have been gone, would have been dead."

While nationally the two rivals are locked in a dead heat, in 12 expected battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin — Obama leads by eight points in the survey.

The poll follows a recent trend showing Romney catching up to Obama in Michigan, where he had trailed badly. Romney said this week that if he can win Michigan, where he was born and raised, he could capture the presidency. Michigan has gone for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since backing Republican George H.W. Bush in 1988.

In seeking support in Michigan, Obama speaks frequently about how the federal bailout of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group led to GM's resurgence as the world's No. 1 automaker and 32,000 more auto-related jobs in the state since the companies emerged from their 2009 managed bankruptcies. Romney opposed the move, even writing a New York Times opinion piece in 2008 that carried the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

Two days after winning the popular vote in the Michigan primary, Mitt Romney has also been declared the victor in a bitter fight for the state's convention delegates.

Santorum, backed by the tea party and evangelicals, is making a powerful bid in Romney's home state. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum battled for primacy in advance of Tuesday contests that could reset the Republican presidential race, extending an epic struggle between the Michigan native's money and establishment ties and his challenger's intense following among tea party supporters and evangelical Christians.

The super PAC behind President Obama is on the air in Michigan today with an ad slamming Mitt Romney and his opposition to the auto industry ...

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney competed over conservative credentials and faced tough questions from voters in Arizona and Michigan on Tuesday.

Whether voters see a principled stand or ruthless capitalism in Mitt Romney’s 2008 opposition to the auto industry rescue will affect how he fares in Michigan’s primary and likely beyond.

A resurgent Rick Santorum hopes to spring his next big surprise in Michigan. Newt Gingrich looks for a campaign revival in the Bible Belt. Mitt Romney has his home state of Massachusetts, and the luxury of picking his spots elsewhere, if not everywhere, as the race for the Republican presidential nomination roars back to life.