George Bullard

Next year will be a banner year for Michigan voters who savor fresh political winds — or red-meat politics — as three-fourths of the state’s senators and nearly a third of the representatives will be rookies in every sense of the word.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Michigan lawmakers tiptoed through another state budget this year, putting up numbers and calling them balanced. But they skated past long-range problems — an omission analysts fear will send state finances spinning out of control.

Michigan’s 36-year-old lottery is a state-operated cash cow that ostensibly benefits public education. But would the state and its citizenry be better off if it were simply privatized?