Net Results

The economy was the biggest issue to Republican voters in economically beleaguered Michigan, shaken by the domestic auto industry's woes. Mitt Romney -- whose father George headed a Detroit auto company before serving as governor of Michigan -- pronounced that he would shape federal tax and regulatory policy to revive the carmakers' fortunes. John McCain, whose supporters revere his "straight talk," took a much different tack, telling Michigan that global economic change meant many of the job Michigan has lost aren't coming back, and that the state needed to re-engineer its economy for the future.

Romney won the primary, and in his victory speech Tuesday night gave credit to his own more upbeat approach. "Tonight is a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism," Romney said.

But McCain, in a primary night statement in which he congratulated Romney (while duly noting that the victor is a "native son" of Michigan), held to his economic message and said he was saying what he feels is true rather than what voters might want to hear. 

McCain said, "I am as committed now as I have ever been to making sure that no state, whether its Michigan or South Carolina or anywhere in this blessed country, is left behind in the global economy. But that global economy is here to stay and it is, by its nature, constantly changing. To compete more successfully in it, we must better prepare American workers and students to seize its opportunities. That is how we will build a stronger and more prosperous America.

"That is what I told the people of Michigan," McCain continued. "And I don't believe I could have honestly told them anything else."