ROCHESTER, Mich. — In the biggest spotlight for Michigan yet in the 2012 presidential race, leading Republican candidates gathered at Oakland University on Wednesday night to debate solutions for the nation’s struggling economy.
The candidates, including Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, laid out individual plans to inspire the nation’s growth in the setting of what the candidates acknowledged is one of America’s hardest-hit states. They agreed on many issues, including repealing “Obamacare” in favor of changing health care programs to state-level operations, fighting government bailouts and advocating for a smaller federal presence in the higher education system and increased accountability on the part of universities themselves.
“How do you force these universities to be more efficient?” Perry said, arguing university boards should be more accountable to state governments. “We have to put powerful economic forces in place.”
Some Michigan Republicans such as Rep. Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, the chairman of the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, have expressed similar concerns. A bill currently introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would explore the possibility of restructuring governmental systems for state universities.
Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, although seen as currently in the back of the presidential pack, said they would eliminate all levels of federal students loans.
“The policy of student loans is a total failure,” Paul said, pushing his plan to end the Department of Education entirely. “They cause higher prices, lower quality.”
Several Republican candidates lambasted government assistance and bailouts — including the 2009 bailout that both Gov. Rick Snyder and President Barack Obama have credited for saving the Detroit auto industry.
Obama launched his re-election campaign in April,“I care about this state like no one else on this stage,” said Romney, a Michigan native whose father served as governor in the 1960s. “Whether it was by President Bush or President Obama, (the bailout) was the wrong way to go.”
Romney advocated for a private restructuring option, which he said differs from “the government playing its heavy hand.”
Jon Huntsman also lashed out at the bailouts, attacking the view of Snyder — a Republican who has supported the effects of the bailout — saying it resulted in billions of lost taxpayer dollars.
Political theory and constitutional democracy senior Nick Kowalski, chairman of the Campus Conservatives, said he thinks Romney has the greatest chance of winning the general election among the lineup and has qualities that could help the party win next year’s general election.
“Romney puts Michigan in play. … That could put them over the hump in 2012,” Kowalski said.
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