Considering that one family has left Michigan every 12 minutes in recent years, you would think politicians in Lansing would wake up and realize that partisan gamesmanship will not turnaround our great state.

Michigan cannot afford — literally and figuratively — to continue waving goodbye to her future.

With 280,000 jobs lost in 2009 and 22,000 students expected to leave elementary and secondary schools for a brighter future in another state this year, the challenges may be daunting, but they aren't insurmountable.

We have the workers and entrepreneurs, the innovation-ready universities and abundant natural resources to overcome the Lost Decade and remake this state for the twenty-first century.

All that is missing is the political leadership to move Michigan forward.

That is why I am running for the State House.

Our great state deserves a new generation of leaders.

Leaders that realize there are more important things than winning the next election.

Leaders willing to put Michigan first and work across the aisle in the tradition of former Governors Romney and Milliken.

We may be Republicans, Democrats and independents, but we are Michiganders first and foremost.