And don't look now, but September isn't shaping up to be any prettier.  Already reeling from the announced lay-offs of 1,000 salaried workers at Chrysler, the Michigan automaker upped the termination count yesterday by killing 450 more jobs.  And that was the good news this week.

Over at Southfield parts supplier Federal-Mogul a full 4,000 employees are preparing to say their final goodbyes.  The Detroit News reports:

The restructuring will begin this month and continue into next year, costing between $60 million and $80 million through the end of 2009.

That's 8% of their total workforce.  

None of this adds up to good news for Barack Obama in Michigan.  The question he and his handlers have to be asking themselves is whether or not Jennifer Granholm used up all of the electoral benefit of the doubt in 2006.  Michigan voters largely held the federal government responsible for the state's high jobless rate two years ago and trusted the Democrats, in overwhelming numbers, to fix the mess.  Things have only gotten worse.  Substantially and tangibly worse.

At some point enlightened self-interest takes over and voters look around at the devastated jobs landscape, look to their leadership in Lansing and hold folks accountable.  The party in charge got a walk last time out while the Republican brand rated somewhere above plutonium on the radioactive charts.  If one percent of those independents who at one time gave state Democrats a pass switch their votes and back McCain and Palin in less than fifty days the Great Lakes state could make history... it could easily go red.

Now THAT is change Michigan workers could believe in.