A2Politico Notes: At A2Politico.com everyone is a political insider. That’s the way it should be. Local, state and national politics have increasingly become the baileywick of professionals: candidates, their staffers, ad agencies, and political analysts. Voters go to the polls less informed than ever before in increasingly smaller numbers. As the stakes get higher, the American public has become more polarized. In the January 2012 issue of Esquire magazine, former President Bill Clinton told the interviewer: “MSNBC has become our version of Fox.” Rachel Maddow, who works for MSNBC, rankles at such comparisons, as she did in a recent interview in Slate. We have “progressive”  and “conservative” bloggers, who present news from predictable and somewhat simplistic perspectives. What we don’t often have, however, are people who work in politics, who have a deep understanding of the political process, and who are willing to share their secrets and insider perspectives. Joe DiSano is just one such writer.

DiSano is a long-time veteran of Michigan politics and has experience in races across the United States. Before establishing Message Design Group, DiSano served in various key staff positions for the Michigan House Democrats and Congressman John Dingell. In 2002, Message Design Group was retained by the Michigan House Democratic Fund. DiSano was active in Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s 2001 campaign where he co-authored the field plan and contributed to the direct mail program. DiSano was the manager of Michigan State Representative George Mans’ 1996 campaign and was lead strategist on Doug Spade’s 1998 long shot race for the Michigan House of Representatives. Spade went on to become the first Democratic House member from Lenawee County since World War I. DiSano founded Main Street Strategies 2007 alongside Kelly Johnston and Todd Cook. Main Street Strategies offers political candidates and advocacy group top-notch campaign advice and strategic communication plans. Clients of Main Street Strategies include Progress Michigan, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, Michigan AFL-CIO, Environmental Defense Fund, Operating Engineers Local 325, Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, State Representative Andrew Kandrevas along with dozens of others.

by Joseph DiSano

The political locusts have left Michigan and are now ravaging the political landscapes of the Super Tuesday states.  What do Michigan’s progressives and Democrats have to show for our two weeks as the center of the political universe?

Quite a lot, actually.

The world now knows how damaged and flawed Mitt Romney is in his home state.

Just three weeks ago, Romney thought he could swoop into the state of his birth and snag all of the 30 delegates at stake. Oh how wrong the Mittster was.  Despite having an overwhelming financial advantage over his opponents and the entire GOP establishment on his side Romney waltzed out of Michigan with only 16 of the 30 delegates available.

Between the Romney campaign and its affiliated SuperPACs, Romney was forced to spend at least $6 million dollars to fight Santorum to a tie in Michigan. Were it not for Michigan GOP chair Bobby Schostack doing an impression of a banana republic dictator and stealing the final delegate on behalf of Romney, Michigan’s delegates would have been split equally behind Romney and Santorum–an unthinkable outcome just 30 days ago.

No onto “Operation: Hilarity.” The do-gooders and progressive purists will wring their hands at those among us who helped Rick Santorum win 7 of Michigan’s 14 Congressional Districts. They will tell you our efforts were misguided and unproductive. Some will even say our efforts were unethical and an example of dirty politics. They may be right on that last point.

Our efforts may have been dirty and unethical. I don’t think so, but I suppose honest people can debate that. What is undeniable is the effectiveness of the efforts of progressives and Democrats to help deliver delegates to Santorum.

Through our campaign of 80,000 robo-calls, 200,000 emails, several radio and TV appearances and countless print mentions leading up to primary day, a list of just under 14,000 Democrats pledged their support to Rick Santorum in the GOP primary.

Look to the results in Michigan’s sprawling 1st U.S. Congressional District. Santorum won the district by less than 1 percent or 790 votes.  Our list of Democrats in the 1st U.S. Congressional District had 800 voters agreeing to support Santorum. Look at the 13th U.S. Congressional District, where Santorum won by a margin with 1,535 votes. Our robo-call program alone identified just fewer than 1,300 Democrats willing to hold their nose and vote for Santorum in the Wayne County-based 13th CD. That doesn’t include people activated by our email blasts or media appearances.

At the least, our efforts in Michigan moved the delegates from the 1st, 7th and 13th U.S. Congressional Districts to Santorum’s column. We denied Romney the clean sweep he’d expected.

Don’t believe me?  This is what Romney’s biggest cheerleader in Michigan, Saul Anuzis said, “Exit polling shows over 100,000 Democrats voted over 3:1 for Santorum in our primary and 5 of the 7 congressional districts Santorum won were within 1,500 votes. Without Democrats & liberals voting for Santorum, Romney would have had a decisive victory here.”

The heartburn our low-budget program caused Team Romney was at least worth the time and energy exerted. Michigan Information and Research Service (MIRS) reported on Primary Night:

“The Santorum/Democrat connection only made the Romney team sweat more. Democratic consultant Joe DiSano and radio talk show host Tony Trupiano joined Santorum and his surrogates in urging Dem votes to pick the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania to elongate the primary and force Romney to exhaust his resources. In the end, Romney and his Super PAC spent much more in the Michigan’s media market than expected and Romney was forced to spend nearly his entire weekend in his home state, which also wasn’t expected.”

The fact that a rag tag band of Democrats and progressives could deny Romney the full slate of 30 delegates he was expecting, and demonstrate just how unpopular he is in his home state is a great result—a result to be proud of.

Not bad for $600.