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Michigan is Ground Zero for the two Democratic presidential candidates in coming days.
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who makes Hillary Clinton sweat at least a bit, was in Warren Saturday evening for a rally at Macomb Community College, where he was introduced by Mayor Jim Fouts. Separately he gained endorsements from members of AFSCME Locals 25 and 2057, who work in Waynse County government and its airport authority, according to a Sunday morning tweet by Detroit News politic writer Chad Livengood.
Clinton attended a 90-minute Michigan Democratic Party reception Saturday night at the MGM Grand casino and spoke Sunday at three Detroit churches -- Holy Ghost Full Gospel Cathedral, Russell Street Missionary Baptist Church and Triumph Church.
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton
On Sunday night, they debate on CNN from 8-10 p.m. at 2,000-seat Whiting Auditorium on the University of Michigan-Flint campus. Anderson Cooper is the moderator, joned by anchor Don Lemon as a questioner. The candidates also will get questions from Michigan voters.
"These candidates are going to be spending a lot of time talking about Michigan," Mark Brewer, a former state Democratic Party chair, tells Lindsay VanHulle of Crain's Detroit Business. That means we'll likely hear discussions about manufacturing, jobs, trade and the Flint water crisis, she writes.
The Democratic hopefuls stay in the state for a joint appearance Monday from Detroit on a 6 p.m. Fox News Channel live "town hall" forum hosted by Bret Baier. Sanders then will greet supporters in Ann Arbor.
Michigan's primaries for each party come a week after Super Tuesday and are high-impact contests, as Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson discusses Sunday morning on "Meet the Press" with host Chuck Todd and fellow guests David Brooks, Mary Matalin and Kelly O'Donnell.
Mississippi also votes Tuesday, but just 41 Democratic delegates and 40 for the Republicans are up for grabs there -- compared to 147 for Democrats and 59 for the GOP in Michigan.
"On the Democratic side, a Clinton victory [here] might well seal her nomination," longtime politics analyst Jack Lessenberry says on Michigan Radio.
Sanders, who has done better than anyone imagined, needs a big industrial state win. Michigan is a place where thousands of once well-paid workers ought to be open to his economic message..
Among Republicans, Ohio Gov. John Kasich "hopes to parlay a strong showing in Michigan, perhaps even a win, into a winner-take-all victory in his home state" a week later on March 15, Kathleen Gray writes in the Freep.
Here's who received local newspaper endorsements in Tuesday's separate party primaries:
