Michigan pollsters have been losing money for years because one of the time honored questions that was also asked was what is the voter's top priority?  For the last eight years, no one has had to purchase that question because everyone knew the answer:  The economy stupid.

   Now comes the governor who may have, unknowingly, produced a sea change of note.  The economy has been replaced by education.

   Remember this is the governor, hat in hand, who has gone to what seems like every little dinky school district in the state urging the locals to get in the game.  She's pleaded with them to call their local legislator and demand new revenue so that school kids don't get hit on the head with a $292 per child loss in state aid.

    Apparently somebody is listening as the latest EPIC-MRA survey conducted for TV-7 news and the Detroit News shows schools are now number one.

    So what?

    That's the right question, because that does not mean senate republicans are listening even though their emails and phones are suggesting they should.

     There's been no crack in the anti-revenue wall that GOP leader Mike Bishop and friends have errected despite the pleading from the governor and the school community to tear down that wall.

     For weeks there have been a handful of GOP senators sympathetic to the new revenue pitch with the governor being careful to point out she is not asking for a general tax hike. 

     But the "sympathy" has not produced any yes votes and now it is crunch time.  The holidays are calling and lawmakers, never bashful about submitting to the siren sound of time off, show no signs of cracking the anti-revenue wall over the next two weeks. In fact schools are likely to take the $292 hit now and hope for new revenue next February.

     Happy New Year.