Will disputed Tea Party candidates stay on ballot, and how can Virg Bernero win in November?

Talking Michigan Politics

Tea partiers facing off in court, exploring a path to victory for Virg Bernero, and the mosque proposed two blocks from Ground Zero on this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast with Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder. Will the real Tea Party please stand up? Despite claims there is no organized Tea Party, per se, a group of people involved in "the movement" have enlisted the state's foremost elections law gunslinger to challenge the organization they say filed fake Tea Party candidates to dilute the GOP vote in November. How does Bernero close a 19-point gap by Nov. 2? A poll telegraphed on last week's podcast indeed became public Thursday and showed GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder with an early and commanding lead. Most pundits expect many of the independents who helped Snyder win the GOP nomination to stay with him in November. Talk also focuses on running mates and names being floated on both sides ahead of the conventions at the end of the month. An Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero. An intellectual case can be made for allowing the center, but many are conflicted. How this benediction from George Washington applies today: "May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid." Conversation starters: • Ed on why AAA is worried that dogs in cars can kill. • Jeff on people who turn on the water and just let it run. Author Peter Annin makes the case in Great Lakes Water Wars that others in the country and the world think we take water for granted in this part of the country. Then again, it's no wonder when water costs about .03 cents a gallon in Grand Rapids.