LANSING, Mich. - Jim Blanchard, the former governor of Michigan, is as partisan a Democrat as they come. But last week, he did something he once would have found impossible to imagine.

He recorded a "phone blast," an automatic call that was sent to thousands of homes in the Seventh Congressional District, which extends from Ann Arbor to Battle Creek. That call urged voters to support … U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz, a Republican, for Congress in Tuesday's primary.

"Joe's a good guy, intelligent, a moderate guy," Mr. Blanchard said. "I knew Tim Walberg when he was in the Legislature," he added. The congressman's opponent, a former preacher and Bible salesman, was a rigid partisan "best known for voting no on everything. There is no way [Mr. Walberg] should be in Congress," the former governor said. "I am still a Democrat but this is a solidly Republican district, and Michigan's future is at stake."

Twenty years ago, when Jim Blanchard was re-elected governor and Joe Schwarz, then a young physician, was first elected to the state Senate, the idea that a narrow ideologue could defeat a respected congressman would have been unimaginable.

And if there is any remaining doubt that there is no room for moderates in the Michigan GOP, across the state, in prosperous Oakland County, another Republican congressman faced a different kind of challenge. If Joe Schwarz was too liberal for the Seventh District, 73-year-old U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg was seen as too conservative for his, especially on cultural issues.
He was challenged in the Republican primary by Pan Godchaux, a well-regarded school board member and former state legislator. Not only did she have high name recognition, she openly sought and received support from Democrats.

Electoral Footnote: The Club for Growth may think taxes are evil, but most millage requests around the state were approved in this week's voting, suggesting that even cash-strapped voters will pay up for services they need and approve.
And in Southeast Michigan, SMART, the area-wide bus service, had its funding approved by an unexpected landslide. That may reflect higher gas prices - but also perhaps an increasing willingness to think about mass transit solutions.