So says king strategist Karl Rove, who writes in his column today in The Wall Street Journal:

The 20th century’s closing decades saw the rise of the TV ad man as the most potent operator in presidential campaigns. The 21st century’s opening decade is seeing the rise of the communications director and press spokesman as the more important figures on a campaign staff. It is the age of the Internet, cable TV, YouTube, multiple news cycles in one day, and the need for really instantaneous response. Ads and ad makers are still vital — but not nearly as much as they were just a few years ago.

That’s what I’ve been trying to tell my bosses for years. Maybe “500 miles and a briefcase” will make them take note. Just kidding, guys!

Seriously, communication methods have completely changed and revolutionized how campaigns are run. When I started as a reporter, I could do my job with a notebook and a pay phone. Today, reporters are journalist generalists doing everything from news gathering to news delivery, with video editing and blogging spiced in for good measure. The same is true on campaigns.

When I made the switch to politics — when fax machines still had paper on rolls — it was what release are we sending out today, or right now. The communication shop supported the broader message of what was up on the airwaves. Today, that’s completely inverted.

Your modern, well-stocked campaign will have a communication shop that rivals anything on Madison Ave., complete with in-house video and audio production crews, writers, bloggers, Web coders, press handlers, spokespersons, researchers and more. Running the show is a person who has more in common with the executive producer of a major network news channel than the old comm. dir. who was not much more than a good writer with a fancy title.

There’s a logical reason for this shift. As communication mediums “flattened out” — meaning that more and more people were able to produce and receive content directly from a source — so did campaign communication efforts. Campaigns now can provide content directly to potential voters without having to go though an intermediary (newspaper or TV broadcast or paid advertisement.) If I can send a 30-second video message from my candidate directly to 300,000 cell phones or e-mail “boxes” in an instant, why would spend all day trying to get a reporter to cover the same issue, run it through the filer that is his or her own natural bias and the bias of three to five editors who also will “touch” the story, and then put it up on a website that — maybe — 40,000 people will visit in an average day? I wouldn’t, and don’t.

When there are no news cycles because there is always a new news cycle on the horizon, and when campaigns can communicate directly with voters in an instant, with a message targeted toward issues they car about, the role of the campaign communication director will continue to ascend.

There was so much wind and methane in Governor Granholm’s State of the State Address last night it is easy to see why people got excited about alternative energy. Yet, as we have come to learn with our governor, it better to trust what she has done than what she says she will do.

Case in point: Alternative Energy. Here’s what the governor said last night:

But let me talk for a moment about one sector that has blockbuster potential for Michigan: alternative energy. Why alternative energy? Because – to borrow a line from Wayne Gretzky – if you want to win, “don’t skate to where the puck is – skate to where the puck is going.” The puck is going to alternative energy. Any time you pick up a newspaper from here on out and see the terms “climate change” or “global warming,” just think: “jobs for Michigan.” Because of the need to reduce global warming and end our dependence on expensive foreign oil, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries will create millions of good paying jobs.

But when the governor had chance to actually do something that would offer incentives to create some renewable energy she vetoed it.

In 2004, state Sen. Cameron Brown, from the Sturgis area, introduced Senate Bill 955, which proposed to offer tax credits to farmers as incentives to turn cow poo into usable methane or bio-mass that could be used to generate power. This bill passed the state Senate and House with strong bi-partisan support.

It’s a simple concept and a good one. Large farm operations — and there are few small farm operations anymore — produce a lot of animal waste which normally would sit in a large cement lagoons until it is pumped into trucks and hauled away, usually to be dumped on some farm field someplace. Yuck is right.

But today the technology exists that would take much of the cow pies created by a large dairy operation, say, and convert it into usable methane. That methane — which is clean-burning natural gas — would in turn be used to power electric generators or heat livestock barns on the same farms where the waste is created. Senator Brown’s tax credit bill would have made it cheaper for farmers to use this technology and to turn waste into energy. Sounds like a good source of renewable energy to me.

But the governor kowtowed the enviro whackos in her own party who saw the tax breaks as sop for large farm operations, commonly referred to a CAFOs (Commercial Animal Farm Operations), which the Left loves to hate. Never mind the fact that offering incentives to large farm operations to deal on-site with the waste they create — and create some energy in the process — just makes a whole lot more sense than trying to regulate them into oblivion.

SB 955 offered an tangible opportunity to create real alternative energy jobs, right here and right now. Not the pie-in-the-sky hopes about which the governor waxed lovingly in her address last night.

That’s the difference between Granholm Rhetoric and Granholm Action.

Now that the Michigan Presidential Primary is past, I can get back to opining and writing about local politics and political figures. I self-imposed a blogging moratorium on myself because some cranks were concerned that I would shave my reportage to favor one particular candidate over another. Because of my job at the Michigan Republican Party, it made sense to be above the fray. Now that the primary is passed, I can get back to what I do best. Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. I promise not to let my loyal readers down.

Given Planned Parenthood’s aversion to sidewalk picketers, we find it strange that Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan (the group’s political arm) would weigh into a yet-to-materialize campaign to establish a “right to work” law. Hat tip to Carter Wood at the National Association of Manufactures and its Shop Floor blog for alerting us to Planned Parenthood’s next political agenda item — union organizing. As if stopping a beating heart wasn’t enough.

This is only anecdotal…but judging by the number of comments — and their extreme level of vitriol — to a Detroit Free Press profile of Democrat Speaker Andy Dillon, public anger over the recently enacted income and service tax increases is higH, hiGH, HIGH.

The Freep ran the profile today, and you can read it here. I won’t go into it. It’s mostly a puff piece about Young Andy and the turmoil he endured to increase taxes in Michigan. If we were in a locker room, I would replace “puff piece” with a more appropriate epitaph.

But what is worth reading is the reader reaction to the piece. So far, there are 158 comments left on the Freep’s website — the most, by several multiples, of any other story — all but a handful are critical of Dillon, and most of them very much so. You can jump right to the comments here. I think the Democrats misread public sentiment on this one.

Sterling Corporation, the former place of my employ, has jumped into the corporate ’sphere with its own blog that focuses on advertising, politics and stuff. Check it out for some good insight into the advertising world, what works, what doesn’t and, sometimes, just to point out the bizarre.

A Central Michigan University dean slapped Dennis Lennox, a CMU student and conservative activist, who was video recording a meeting where he presented a Freedom of Information Act Request for information about Democrat Congressional candidate Gary Peters, who is being paid more then $67,000 to teach one class at the university.

WNEM-TV led with this story on it’s 11 pm newscast Monday…

And here’s Dennis’ actual footage of the assault:

At the very least, CMU President Michael Rao should administratively discipline the dean with an official letter of reprimand in her personnel file. He should suspend her without pay or fire her. Contact President Rao (president@cmich.edu) and tell him to take action against CMU Dean Gates. CMU would never treat anyone from MoveOn.org as Dennis was treated.

You can sign it here. 3,100+ of your friends already have.

Things are really coming together for the Oct. 9 GOP Presidential Candidates Debate in Dearborn.

Looks like we will have nearly 300 registered journalists from around the world. Ford, GM and Chrysler are all going to have their newest-soon-to-be-out models on site for the world to see at the debate (maybe even a surprise…shhhhhhh!).

The Detroit News’ David Shepardson has a story today about how the Big Three will demand the candidates’ attention:

GOP debate to spotlight Big 3 issues

In Dearborn next week, candidates are expected to be quizzed about trade, fuel economy, jobs.

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The future of the struggling domestic auto industry will be front and center Tuesday when nine Republican GOP candidates debate economic issues in the shadow of Ford’s world headquarters in Dearborn.

Detroit’s Big Three say it is a critical opportunity to address the future of the industry. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are not only sponsoring the debate, but also, outside the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, showing off their vehicles.

About 1,100 people will get see the debate in person at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center (which, if you have not been there is definitely worth the trip. When we took the NBC folks through the facility in August they were wowed, and these guys have seen everything. One producer said: “This is as good or better than anything on Broadway without the hassle.”)

Hat’s off to Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. and his staff. They have opened the city to this debate and bent over backwards to make it a success. See….Republicans and Democrats can work together!

Alan Keyes…

I awoke this morning to several hundred e-mails in my Inbox from Keyes supporters upset that he will not on stage Tuesday. I have nothing against Mr. Keyes. I like him and respect his principled stance on important issues. But we have a debate to run and when we were deciding who to invite to the debate, our decision was based on those individuals who had active, federally registered campaigns, and who were actively seeking the GOP nomination.

Michigan law requires the chairman of the respective state parties to submit the names of candidates to be included on the Jan. 15 presidential primary ballot. Chairman Anuzis did that as required by law, and, based upon the criteria mentioned above, Mr. Keyes was not included — neither was Newt Gingrich, whom at the time was mentioned as a presidential candidate. It is from that list, which is now official, that the debate participants were selected.

This is a “Republican Presidential Candidates” debate, not a debating society social. Mr. Keyes is not a candidate from what just about any reasoned person would judge as one. Even the AlanKeys.com site is run by a Political Action Committee called “We Need Alan Keys for President, Inc.” It plays itself off as a presidential site, but it is not. Long story short. These are the very sensible and real reasons Mr. Keyes was not invited to this debate. There will be many more in the coming months, and should Mr. Keyes become a serious presidential candidate, I am sure he will be invited to participate.

UPDATE: 1:00 AM Monday, Oct. 1…With Democrat Lt. Governor John Cherry casting the tie-breaking vote (19-19) to pass the Granholm Tax Increase. It now goes to the governor for signature.

Taxes are going up. The Michigan House, which is Democrat controlled, just passed the largest tax increase in a quarter century. Here, you can take a look at vote tally as the vote was finalized late Sunday evening.

HB 5194 passed 57-53. Republicans Rep. Gaffney and Ward joined Democrats in voting ‘Yes.’ Senate is now considering the bill. The word is that the Democrats Dennis Olshove (Warren), Jim Barcia (Bay City) and Glenn Anderson (Westland) will be voting NO.

Anderson represents a vulnerable state senate district that is nominally Republican. Barcia was a state senator (before term limits) in 1983 and Olshove a staffer when the senate passed Gov. Jim Blanchard’s “temporary” personal income tax increase. These two saw first hand the bloodletting that occurred in the aftermath of the vote. For those of you who don’t remember, two senators were recalled over that vote and it resulted in Republicans gaining control of that chamber, which they’ve held held ever since.