Michigan Republicans mystified by McCain retreat

Politico:

In the aftermath of John McCain's decision to pull out of Michigan, Republicans in the state are expressing shock and bewilderment at his move — and aren't willing to cede the state's 17 electoral votes just yet.

“We’re blindsided, along with everybody else in Michigan,” said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. “I feel like I woke up this morning, and there was a note on my pillow.”

“When the general leaves the battlefield when the fight’s still going on, it creates a lot of chaos,” he said.

Saul Anuzis, the chairman of the state party, sent out a fundraising message Friday morning that called McCain’s decision “a tough blow.”

“The McCain campaign announced they were shifting resources and staff out of Michigan to other targeted states. Other states ‘today’ offer a better opportunity for the campaign,” Anuzis wrote on his blog, paraphrasing the McCain campaign’s explanation. “We do not agree.”

...

Some Democrats were hesitant to declare victory and viewed McCain’s move with suspicion, suggesting sinister motives behind the Arizona senator’s very public departure from the state.

“Who announces with such fanfare that they’re leaving, other than to let you think that they’re gone?” asked Democratic Lt. Gov. John D. Cherry, who predicted that McCain’s announcement could be a prelude to a flurry of anti-Obama advertising by independent groups.

“I think the announcement you’re reading is an invitation for independent groups to come in and do that sort of thing,” Cherry suggested, adding that, for McCain to win the state Republicans, he would have to engage in “some very outrageous stuff.”

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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, seemed to agree with that assessment Friday, expressing dismay at her own campaign’s decision in an interview with Fox News Channel.

“I want to get back to Michigan, and I want to try,” she told reporter Carl Cameron. “Todd and I, we’d be happy to get back to Michigan. We’d be so happy to speak to the people there in Michigan who are hurting.”

...

There are plenty of reasons for Michigan voters to reject Democrats. They are largely responsible for the mess the state finds itself in. It has been Democrat energy policies that have driven up the cost of gas that has made the cars produced there less desirable. Democrats who control the state government have run business out of the state with their high taxes. Anyone who votes for a Democrat in Michigan is voting against his own interest unless it is in his interest to be dependent and poor.

I hope the Democrat who sees this as a tactical move is correct.