I don't buy it.  In fact, honestly examined, I don't view Schostak's record as state party chairman as being all that impressive.

Let's start with the State House campaign.  Even though we flipped one seat (District 39, where Klint Kresto ousted Pam Jackson) and picked up another one due to reapportionment, the net loss was still four seats.  Yes, the Michigan Republicans still maintain a majority in the State House, but the margin-of-majority has been cut in half; and there are 6 known squishies in that Republican Caucus (the same six who voted against Freedom To Work legislation during the lame-duck session), which could make tight votes on "controversial" legislation problematic.  Yeah, way to hang onto that majority there, SHOW-stak.  Oh and by the way, the House Legislative Caucus and its campaign committee did most of the strategy work, so the grassroots activists at least share credit for not losing the State House to the dems, but you won't hear B. S. mentioning that anytime soon.

What about the U. S. House campaign?  Yes, eight of the nine republican incumbents were returned to DC in the election, and Kerry Bentivolio was elected to replace the disgraced Thad McCotter.  But, as we pointed out at the time, Chairman Weasel was caught trying to broker a deal with Chairman Snake-in-the-grass in order to obviate the need for a special primary, but that would have boxed out Bentivolio's legitimate and properly filed candidacy.  Also, there were two congressional districts that could have been flipped (Districts 5 and 9) had Schostak committed resources to do so.  He didn't, so they weren't, and we're right back where we started two years ago, yet this is somehow evidence of a successful federal campaign.

Another thing about that fundraising.  Depending on whose account you believe, Chairman Bobby has claimed between $26 and $33 million as his fundraising accomplishment for the state party (his own campaign e-mails claim the lower figure), yet the Open Secrets Republican Party of Michigan summary data, which is extracted from actual FEC filings, total receipts for 2012 election cycle are only $10,756,195.  Granted, that's more than his three immediate predecessors were able to accomplish in a single election cycle, but there's still a discrepancy (on the order of $16 to $23 million) between what's being claimed and what the record actually shows.  And since Schostak doesn't appear interested in opening the state party's books up to a pre-convention audit, we're not likely to know why that discrepancy exists, never mind where it went.

As far as the voter contacts go, whatever the numbers were, tens of thousands of hours that volunteers spent on phones and knocking on doors were squandered and disrespected, because the state party didn't have a reliable method of getting out the vote on election day.  This problem was as a result of having inadequate technology and communications (as the GOP is woefully inadequate in social media and contact development).  In many victory centers volunteers were not sent out for anyone but the presidential nominee, and occasionally one or two other high-profile races.  Down-ticket candidates were not included in literature distribution or allowed to participate on behalf of the national slate.

And that brings me to the point of this whole article.

There were 13 statewide seats up for election last November.  Just as a refresher, they were:

• Michigan's Electoral College delegation (awarded on a winter-take-all basis at large)
  
• Michigan's Class 1 U. S. Senate seat
  
• Two seats on the Michigan Board of Education
  
• Two seats on the University of Michigan Board of Regents
  
• Two seats on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees
  
• Two seats on the Wayne State University Board of Governors
  
• Two full-term seats on the Michigan Supreme Court
  
• One partial-term incumbent seat on the Michigan Supreme Court (that must stand for re-election in 2014)

I've observed before in articles posted on this site that Debbie Stabenow was one of eleven vulnerable democrat senate incumbents last year, and Pete Hoekstra observed in his address to the state convention on September 8th that his challenge to Debbie the Dangerously Incompetent had been moved into the toss-up column.  I've also observed before on this site that Michigan was one of eleven states that were classified as toss-up states the day before the election.  Now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing or hearing any advertising for any republican federal candidates (president, senate, or house) at all during the months of August and September, except for what the candidates themselves paid for.

So, by his own claims, Chairman B. S. was personally responsible for $26 million dollars raised and 4.4 million voters contacted, but for two-thirds of the general campaign couldn't be bothered to buy advertising for federal candidates challenging vulnerable democrat incumbents, or to purchase advertising for our own vulnerable incumbents (Amash, Benishek, and Bentivolio).  Yes, the question of where that money came from and where it went absolutely ought to be answered.

Going back to what Laura Ingraham said in the audio clip, all 13 of those statewide seats should have been gimmies.  Plus, we should have been able to flip two vulnerable federal house seats.  Yet, the best that SHOW-stak can offer up for his failure to accomplish that is that at least we didn't lose our majority presence.

Two for thirteen.  Excuses won't cut it, and I'm not interested in spin jobs.  I think that an explanation in is order.  And if one isn't forthcoming, then a change in leadership ought to be.