May 7, 2012: The Bay County Bulletin

The May 2012 MIGOP State Convention
will be held May 18-19 at Cobo Hall
in Detroit.

COUNTY CONVENTION RESULTS: The following will represent Bay County at the Michigan Republican State Convention next weekend as delegates in Detroit: Robbie, Bob and Mary Ann Rankey, F. Patrick Daily, Vaughn Begick, Aaron Baylis, Kellie Brennan, Gilbert Bartz, Kyle Winters, Christopher Rumberg, Kim and Chris Bennett, John Engel, Ashley Giddings, Daniel Raymond, Stacey Whyte, Paul Masson, Tim Sampson, Dave Boehringer, Bruce Neitzel, Randall Raymond, and Chris Grappin.

Rankey for National Convention: At the county convention, Robbie Rankey (@robrank14 for those on the Twitters) announced his candidacy for Republican National Convention delegate. Party Chairman Aaron J. Baylis has given Robbie his endorsement and hopes you will support his candidacy.

Hollande is the first Socialist to occupy
Élysée Palace since François Mitterand.

Socialist Hollande wins French presidency: French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country's presidential election. Mr Hollande - who got an estimated 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off - said the French had chosen "change". Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished "good luck" to Mr Hollande. http://bbc.in/Jpq0uN

Michigan drops plan to set age for health coverage: Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders are abandoning a plan to make public school employees wait until age 60 to collect retirement health insurance benefits. Setting a specific age for retired school employees to get health care coverage has been one of the most controversial aspects of a massive legislative overhaul of the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. http://bit.ly/IO8ORk

POLI-BITES: Secretary of State dons helmet, proper gear on hog: Secretary of State Ruth Johnson donned her leather jacket last week and rode her Harley-Davidson Sportster with a group of bikers near Grand Rapids to call attention to May as Motorcycle Safety Month in Michigan. Notable from the event: All the riders, including Johnson, wore helmets even though Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill last month allowing bikers to feel the wind in their hair. Part of the message for Johnson was to "wear the proper gear," but her news release made no mention of helmets. http://on.freep.com/J7hcup

Rubio says Obama campaign magic is dead: The Obama campaign magic is dead. That’s the conclusion of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), speaking on "Fox News Sunday." "All the things that made him different and special four years ago are gone," Rubio told host Chris Wallace during an interview that focused heavily on President Barack Obama’s record on the economy. http://politi.co/IvCW1Y

51st state? Yoopers are talking up secession from Michigan again: Would it be called the State of Northern Michigan? How about the State of Superior? Michigan's Upper Peninsula is going to need a new name if it secedes to become the 51st state. And that's exactly what they're talking about up in Marquette County, where the issue was raised at the last Marquette County Board of Commissioners meeting and quickly spread via several U.P. media outlets. http://on.freep.com/IA7ej5

BIRTHWEEK: Monday. Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM). Tuesday. F.A. Hayek, Don Rickles. Wednesday. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Billy Joel, The Captain Steve Yzerman, Dana Perino, Prince Fielder. Thursday. Chris Berman, Rick Santorum, Bono, Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV). Friday.  Charlie Gehringer. Saturday. Yogi Berra, George Carlin, Sweet Lou Whitaker. Sunday. Stevie Wonder.