April 2, 2012: The Bay County Bulletin

In an attempt to save some time, I thought I'd try something a little different. If you don't already receive it, I highly recommend that you subscribe to Mike Allen's "Playbook" from POLITICO, after which today's Bulletin is patterned.

8.8 AND 5.2: Michigan jobless rate drops to 8 percent: Michigan's unemployment rate continues its downward trend, dropping to 8.8 percent in February. State officials say total employment rose by 22,000 in February, and unemployed dropped by 8,000. http://goo.gl/Eo3iT

Michigan's 2011 personal income growth strongest in more than a decade: Personal income in Michigan last year grew at the strongest rate in more than a decade, providing another substantial indicator of Michigan's rebounding economy, Gov. Rick Snyder said today. The state's personal income growth rate is the strongest since 2000, according to 2011 figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Michigan's improvement also is the best among the Great Lakes states. Read statement.

VOTING TUESDAY: Maryland, Wisconsin, and D.C. vote on Tuesday. Close to 100 delegates will be bound by those primaries. RCP polling data shows Romney +7.5 in Wisconsin, and by +17 in Maryland.

Paul Ryan says 'game over' if Mitt wins WI: “I think Rick [Santorum] would need something like 82 percent of the rest of the delegates, and that’s just not going to happen," Ryan, a vice presidential short-lister who recently endorsed Romney, said on CNN's "State of the Union." http://politi.co/HAQlWS

Finley: The nerd must get tougher: Rick Snyder must be prepared to do this week the thing he has said too emphatically and too often he doesn't want to do: Appoint an emergency manager for Detroit. The governor has allowed the process of crafting a financial rescue plan for the city to get away from him. So going into this critical week, none of the three parties involved in the negotiations have agreed to anything. A deal, as Snyder keeps assuring us, is not near. Nor will it be until the governor gets mean. http://goo.gl/75E9m

FULL-COURT PRESS: Nevertheless, the prospect for the mandate looked much bleaker after the hearing than before it. It had seemed possible that Messrs Kennedy and Roberts might side with the four justices appointed by Democrats. Some even mused that Antonin Scalia, the court’s most vocal conservative, might support the mandate; in 2005 he agreed that Congress could regulate the growing of marijuana for personal medical use. Such hopes were dampened. Mr Roberts was relatively even-handed. Mr Scalia was sceptical. Mr Kennedy’s comments were particularly damning. “The government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act…” he observed, “and that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way.” Most Americans seem to agree. http://econ.st/HC9mJE

Hoekstra's GOP rivals line up for fight in primary: Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra's attempt to ignore his Republican U.S. Senate primary opponents and focus a campaign on incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow has only emboldened his closest rivals. Clark Durant, who trails Hoekstra in the polls but is amassing a competitive campaign war chest, seized on Hoekstra's campaign slogan of "Pete Spend It Not" and branded him "Pete Spends A Lot" in a recent television ad highlighting Hoekstra's votes to raise the national debt ceiling and supporting the $700 billion bank bailout. http://goo.gl/NKtzW

YOUNG AND RESTLESS: After voting for “hope” and “change” in 2008, many young people are disillusioned with President Obama: Visit any college campus today, and you are likely to sense a lack of passion and energy for Obama. It’s far from clear that he can reproduce the unusually strong turnout among younger voters that he sparked in 2008 or match the 66 percent performance level he achieved then. http://bit.ly/H7kWJP

OLBERMANN OUT AT CURRENT TV: Current TV has fired Keith Olbermann, citing a lack of “respect” and “collegiality” in its relationship with him, following months of open warfare between Olbermann and Current executives in the press. He will be replaced by Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who had been a frequent guest on “Countdown” since its earliest days on Current — and whose own show on CNN was canceled last year. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74686.html

GIFFORDS KEEPS CAMPAIGN MONEY, PROMPTING TALK OF A POSSIBLE COMEBACK: Since her resignation from Congress, Gabrielle Giffords has not returned the money in her campaign account, leaving the door open for another Congressional run. http://nyti.ms/HadPi9

BIRTHWEEK: Tuesday: Helmut Kohl. Wednesday: Craig T. Nelson, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). Thursday: Colin Powell. Friday: John Ratzenberger

OPENING DAY: ESPN’s multiplatform coverage of Major League Baseball’s Opening Week will begin with a full slate of MLB-focused programming on Wednesday, April 4, leading into ESPN’s exclusive national telecast of Opening Night - defending Champion Cardinals at new-look Marlins - at 7 p.m. ET. In total, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise five games in three days Opening Week. Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Terry Francona and Buster Olney will be on the call in Detroit on ESPN2. http://es.pn/H1bA5k

Opening Day in the D: Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.22 ERA, 42 K career v. BOS) v. Jon Lester (0-2, 5.89 ERA, 17K career v. DET). Saturday: Doug Fister v. Clay Buchholz at 4:05 p.m. Sunday: Max Scherzer v. Josh Beckett at 1:05 p.m.