From the DFP:
Diane Hathaway sprung a stunning upset Tuesday of Clifford Taylor, the conservative chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court who was the target of a scathing advertising campaign from Democrats.
Hathaway, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge nominated by the Democrats, is the first challenger to unseat an incumbent justice since 1984.
The loss is a devastating blow to the Michigan Republican Party, which was braced for a bad night elsewhere on the ticket but badly wanted to re-elect Taylor, who has been a critical member of the conservative majority that has ruled the court the last decade.
Hathaway said her message, calling for a fair and impartial voice on the court, had resonated.
“I was working the polls all day,” she said early in the evening, recounting voters telling her they voted for her. “I was very encouraged.”
Taylor was favored to win re-election because he had an incumbent designation on the ballot and was on the nonpartisan ballot, theoretically inoculating him from the Democratic wave that swamped the state.
The race exploded in the last two weeks when the Michigan Democratic Party funded scathing ads labeling Taylor “the Sleeping Judge,” claiming he fell asleep during a case — a charge Taylor and Republicans denounced as a lie.
Taylor said Democrats turned the race into a partisan contest, one his campaign staff said allowed President-elect Barack Obama’s landslide to have a spillover effect.
“I congratulate her on her victory,” he said. “I’m surprised. … I had not expected this to happen.”
Despite Taylor’s concession, Hathaway’s campaign as of 12:30 a.m. declined to declare victory, pending further results.
Republicans countered the assault by attacking Hathaway’s record on crime and claiming that she once told a newspaper she only wanted to serve on the state Court of Appeals to enhance her vacation time.
With 73% of the precincts reporting, Hathaway led with 49%- 40% for Taylor. Libertarian Robert Roddis had 11%.
Taylor has been a fixture of the Republican court majority that alternately has been hailed and castigated during the past decade for its conservative rulings.
Business interests and Republicans said Taylor and his fellow conservatives have taken a more literal interpretation of the law that has created a better climate to do business in Michigan.
But Democrats and plaintiffs’ attorneys said Taylor has been part of a majority that has overturned years of precedent and stacked the deck against individuals trying to sue businesses and government.
The court has five justices nominated for election by the Republican Party and two nominated by the Democrats.
Turtle Talk 