But do the math. If there are three reasonably strong black candidates and only one white one, the odds have to favor the Anglo.

Much the same is the case in the 14th District, where two incumbents, Gary Peters and Hansen Clarke, are locked in a primary battle that will end one of their careers, at least for now.

Again, the district has a small black majority — but whites tend to turn out in greater numbers, putting Clarke clearly at risk. And now Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence is thinking about getting into the race. Lawrence, who is fresh from back-to-back defeats for county executive (2008) and lieutenant governor (2010) might be advised to lay low for awhile, lest she get tagged as a three-time loser.

If she does get in the race, however — and maybe even if she doesn't — it seems entirely possible that Clarke could lose. Michigan has had two black congressmen since 1965. But it is easily imaginable that as a result of redistricting, that the number of minority representatives we send to Washington could soon be zero.

... and speaking of corruption:. We've become so blasé that most of us barely blinked when Matty Moroun managed to buy enough legislators to prevent the badly needed new Detroit River bridge from even coming up for a vote.

Remember these names: state Senators Mike Kowall, Mike Nofs, and Geoff Hansen, all Republicans. These are political scum — there is no more appropriate word for it — who took what amounted to legal bribes from Moroun, and refused to allow a bridge to be built that would have cost taxpayers nothing and created 10,000 jobs.

Plus, it also would have made us competitive in the future, and got the state more than $2 billion in federal highway funds. These people sold you out for a few thousand dollars. They should be horsewhipped, impeached and driven out of town.

But, hey! I forgot. That's the free enterprise way. Incidentally, a couple Democrats, one of whom also took money from Moroun, also pulled the rug out from under us by not voting at the last moment.

I'll have more on this, and on them, in a future episode of our long-running series on the Death of our State's Economy.

> Email Jack Lessenberry