Whether he realizes it or not, when Mitt Romney makes two public appearances today in the Detroit area he will be heading into a political buzzsaw.
The presumed Republican presidential frontrunner will be dodging protests and rhetorical flourishes by the Michigan Democratic Party and a few liberal groups. They hope to generate a small but noisy crowd at a Livonia Coney Island Thursday morning where Romney will be campaigning.
But the ex-governor will share the spotlight with Rep. Thad McCotter, a Livonia Republican and supposedly a potential Romney opponent for the GOP nomination.
The notoriously quirky McCotter took a preemptive shot this afternoon at the former Massachusetts governor, and the congressman will continue down that path when he makes an appearance in Plymouth tomorrow.
At a manufacturing company, McCotter will stage an event that’s reportedly billed as a discussion of “Economy, Jobs and the Mitt Romney-Obama Ticket.”
 McCotter said in the event announcement: “Motor City hospitality dictates a Michigan message to Mitt that our struggling families, entrepreneurs and workers can’t afford policies that make Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama less than rivals, and more like running mates.”
Ouch.
Democratic opposition is to be expected, but the timing of Romney’s fundraising swing through Michigan is certainly questionable. It comes on the heels of news that General Motors and Chrysler are nearly out of the woods, while critics are resurrecting Romney’s November 2008 guest column in The New York Times that featured this headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
The Democratic Party promised that, after criticizing the president’s successful plan to rescue the auto industry from collapse, Romney’s Motown visit won’t be the happy homecoming he’d hoped for.
State party Chair Mark Brewer called the trip “Mitt Romney’s Hypocrisy Tour” and offered this snarky – and timely – remark:  “I don’t think we’ve seen a less inviting homecoming since LeBron (James) went back to Cleveland.”
Over at AnnArbor.com, they’re also reporting on the Democratic onslaught:
“The federal government’s decision to rescue the domestic auto industry from a catastrophic collapse is rapidly turning into a presidential campaign issue for 2012.
“And former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is becoming a leading proponent of President Barack Obama’s decision” to provide rescue loans to GM and Chrysler, saving 1 million jobs in the process.
“Now, as the political world turns its attention toward the next presidential election, the bailout is quickly becoming a lightning rod of debate.
“Granholm today blasted Michigan native and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, saying the Republican presidential candidate’s willingness to let the auto companies go bankrupt was irresponsible.
“’… Under his leadership, 1.4 million jobs supported by the U.S. auto industry would have been lost,’” Granholm wrote today in a Politico opinion piece titled ‘Let Mitt Romney go bankrupt.'”
She added: “So for him to claim now that he pointed the way toward the recovery of the auto industry is profoundly disturbing.”
 
The liberal group Progress Michigan said they hope to paint Romney as a former businessman who amassed a fortune in the private sector by buying companies and “flipping” them for profit.
If the media who cover Romney’s visits to Livonia and Detroit are willing to listen, here’s what Progress Michigan has to offer:
  •  “Throughout his 15-year career at Bain Capital, which bought, sold, and merged dozens of companies, Romney had other chances to fight to save jobs, but didn’t. His ultimate responsibility was to make money for Bain’s investors, former partners said.” (Boston Globe, 1/27/08)
  • A year after Romney began his term as governor in 2003, Massachusetts ranked last in job growth. (Marketwatch, 2/23/11)  
“Mitt Romney made it clear he has no faith in Michigan families and workers when we needed support the most, but today he returns to ask for their money and support. Does he think GM would be set to hire another 2,500 workers in Hamtramck in the near future and Chrysler another 1,200 at Jefferson North if President Obama hadn’t acted?,” said Progress Michigan Executive Director David Holtz.
“Michigan families are ready to shine a light on the fact that the only thing going bankrupt is not Detroit but Mitt Romney’s ideas, which have killed local jobs and local companies so rich CEOs can get even richer. Mitt Romney’s already tried once to bury Michigan’s auto industry. We shouldn’t give him another chance.”
Sounds like the frontrunner might be better off taking a back seat for the day.

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