With continued budget shortfalls expected in Michigan’s immediate economic future, the decision of who will be the state’s next governor is one voters shouldn’t take lightly. The next governor almost certainly will be left counting down to the state’s last pennies as he or she tries to determine how best to balance the tight budget.

On Tuesday, Michigan voters will pick one Democrat and one Republican who will have the chance to take on this daunting task. Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and state Sen. John “Joe” Schwarz should be those two people.

The three Democrats and two Republicans vying for the state’s top seat are campaigning on stances that sound quite similar in several areas. But Granholm’s fresh face and down-to-earth manner and Schwarz’s honesty and vast experience make them the best candidates.

Of the three Democratic candidates, Granholm, 43, is the newest to state politics. Her opponents, former Gov. James Blanchard and U.S. Rep. David Bonior, each have been involved in politics for at least 25 years. Granholm has a common-sense approach to dealing with the state’s budget problems: Audit the state’s finances and departments and find where cuts can be made. Every bureaucracy, she maintains, has fat that can be trimmed away.

Granholm also proposes creating a Technology Tri-Corridor, made up of an expanded Life Sciences Corridor, automotive manufacturing and industries focusing on potential homeland-security technologies. These areas need additional focus by the state government if Michigan is to expand its economy.

She also proposes helping more students who can’t afford tuition make it to college. Her privately funded Great Lakes Scholars program for at-risk students and expansion of savings programs such as the Michigan Education Trust are on the right track to make it easier to attend college.

Granholm also is one of the more progressive candidates running for governor, supporting affirmative-action policies and supporting the expansion of the state’s civil rights act to include sexual orientation, as well as the only candidate to bring up the topic of gender identity.

On the Republican side, Schwarz towers above Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus when it comes to his honest and straight-forward approach to leadership. In fact, Schwarz probably is the most qualified candidate for governor to deal with Michigan’s pending economic problems.

As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, Schwarz, 64, understands the intricacies involved in managing state appropriations and tuition costs. He was a driving force behind the deal with Michigan’s public universities to keep tuition increases at or below 8.5 percent in exchange for state assurances to not cut funding. He knows education should be a priority in the state’s budget.

But above Schwarz’s know-how of state finances, he’s a straight-talking person. If Schwarz doesn’t agree with something, he’ll say so - and he’ll explain why. He’s taken the unpopular stance that an increase in taxes may be necessary for the state to deal with declining revenues. Otherwise, he says, the state may have to make massive cuts in important programs such as education and health care to balance the budget.

With Schwarz’s reputation for fiscal savvy, increasing taxes is certainly not an issue he takes lightly. Posthumus, on the other hand, has pledged not only to hold the line on the taxes, but cut some taxes - all while increasing spending on roads by $300 million and not making massive budget cuts in other areas, a move that is wholly irresponsible.

Posthumus also wants to constitutionally cap tuition increases, while not guaranteeing funding to universities. Such a move would amount to fiscal irresponsibility at its worst and would cripple universities’ ability to provide a high-quality education and compete with other colleges around the nation.

If his method of keeping tuition down is the bullying approach he took in a letter criticizing university presidents - who were cutting their budgets left and right - for increasing tuition, the higher education system doesn’t have a secure future.

When it comes to who Michigan’s next governor should be, Granholm and Schwarz simply have the best knowledge to protect important programs, the ability to make cuts in the right areas of the budget and the capability to find the best way to increase the state’s revenue.