The bad economy, Democrats’ terrible political handling of health care reform and an unusually high number of positions up for election allowed a wave of Republican governors to be swept into office across the country last year. Yet this wave of success, and the poor economy which enabled it, could become a real political headache for the GOP in 2012 as the try to take the White House.

Societies collapse suddenly. Maybe the hyper-rich can find one of their trained seal economists to prove they don’t.

In what is likely to be just the first of several dissolutions of democratically elected city governments and school boards in Michigan, the Emergency Financial Manager of Benton Harbor, Joseph Harris, just took away all authority from the city’s elected government.

Add Rick Snyder to the list of Republican governors who over-read their mandate and now find themselves quickly unpopular. First it was Scott Walker in Wisconsin, then John Kasich in Ohio. Now Snyder, whose budget includes large corporate tax cuts while increases in taxes for the working poor, and who pushed through a strengthened set of laws for emergency financial managers, who would be allowed to void union contracts and even fire elected officials, sees his ideas get the thumbs-down from his constituents.

The team at MichaelMoore.com is streaming live video all day long from protests in Lansing, the latest site to see a backlash to Republican-led efforts to weaken the rights of workers. Moore says that over 6,000 protesters occupied the Rotunda in the Capitol as of an hour ago. About a thousand stayed overnight last night.

Jon Walker liveblogs the Michigan, Missouri and Kansas primaries.

Today, important primaries are taking place in Michigan, Kansas and Missouri. FDL Elections will be live blogging the results as they come in this evening.

With the Michigan primary election just days away on August 3rd, there is currently no clear leader in the Republican gubernatorial race. The latest EPIC-MRA poll has the race effectively a three way tie among Attorney General Mike Cox, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, and Businessman Rick Snyder. In the Democratic primary, Virg Bernero holds a solid eight point lead over Andy Dillon.