Something big happened in Detroit the other day and it wasn't just the down fall of a big city mayor.  What happened in Detroit the other day was the beginning of a rust belt landslide for McCain.  Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may prove to be much worse for Senator Obama than Rev. Wright or Mr. Ayers combined.   Obama's public meeting with the now disgraced Mayor is still fresh in the minds of most Detroit voters and what they certainly remember is the affection and praise the Senator showed for the corrupt and crooked Mayorlast year.  It really is hard to make a new first impression.  Kwame Kilpatrick, like his predecessor Coleman Young, takes the lion's share of the blame for the downfall of the once great, multi-ethnic city of Detroit in the suburbs.  Suburbanites know they are to blame and resent them greatly for the damage they've done to this city and the entire Detroit metro area.  These voters are largely union and lower middle class and they strongly want to vote democratic...but one thing more than any other will move them in droves toward McCain....race.  It's not that these voters are racist...or openly prejudice, but rather quitely prejudice with a fear of perceived slick black politicians with big promises....bigger ambitions.....and clear black inner city activism.  The "Bradley factor" in the polls will certainly show itself in Wayne, McComb and Oakland counties where nearly half of the state population lives.

 

Obama was smart to skip Michigan in the primaries....Hillary would have cleaned his clock in a straight up contest and the Kilpatrick relationship would have become a bigger issue, but now he has little choice.  He has to campaign there and as he does it the Kilpatrick relationship will plague him more than anything else.  If you like Kwame...you're not a friend of the white suburbs.  If you throw him under the bus...you still can't run from the image of the hug....and the comment of "your great Mayor."   Barrack is in serious trouble in Michigan and I doubt he can overcome it.  I suspect Michigan will go to McCain this year and if he wins Michigan...he'll win the election.  Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania all have similar racial dynamics.  If there is a landslide in this election...it'll be rust belts states for McCain.