Good news for Michigan as GOP pretends to give a damn

post from Daily Kos on 23 February 2012 04:00:05 PM. © Daily Kos

money If nothing else, the Republican candidates' newfound insistence that they give a damn about Michigan, however shortlived it might be, is at least inadvertently pumping a little money into the state economy. The form? Super PAC ad campaigns that are saturating the state airwaves on behalf of the candidates:

?This was a windfall and it all came fast and furious once they realized the situation in Michigan and that Romney was going to have to fight for the state,? said Betsy Bard, national sales manager at the ABC and NBC network affiliates in Traverse City. ?I?m up to my eyeballs in it right now.?

Hooray! We'll screw the auto industry, but at least there's good ol' fashioned propaganda dollars to be spent!

As the Bloomberg article points out, the ads are of particular benefit to stations because Super PAC ads don't follow the same rules as candidate ads, which are allowed to pay low ad rates in a passing attempt at propping up retail democracy. Nope, stations get to negotiate ad prices for Super PAC ads. But don't feel bad for the poor Super PACs: think of it as a minor tax for allowing them to lie outright, right?

You can see why states want to have their primaries as early in the campaign as possible, when the battles are fiercest and the outcomes most critical. It at least brings in press and money. For a state like Michigan that's especially critical, because they have about a week left before the entire national Republican Party forgets they exist again, go back to badgering Obama for giving a damn about their major industries, and in general treat them like dirt.