About the recall he faces, Snyder said he didn’t think it would succeed. A Washtenaw County panel Friday approved the wording for the petitions.

“It’s part of the democratic process. People have their views and I take it seriously but I don’t expect it to be successful,” Snyder said. “I believe the majority of citizens support what I am doing.”

So far, the polls are saying otherwise. A late March poll found that less than three months after taking office, Snyder’s policies were so controversial that he would lose the election if it were rerun today, even after winning a landslide in November.

Michigan has the most races of interest, including a governor’s seat that Republicans hope to recapture when term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) steps down. Vying for the chance to do so today are three candidates – businessman Rick Snyder, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and state Attorney General Mike Cox — all of whom are still in the chase. According to Chris Cillizza, turnout will be key to the candidates’ chances:

The critical counties in the Republican race will be Kent (Grand Rapids), Oakland (Pontiac), Macomb and Wayne (Detroit); the four counties accounted for about 40 percent of the vote in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. But turnout in Ottawa County on the western side of the state will be key for Hoekstra — it sits in his 2nd district base and is one of the most reliably Republican counties in the state.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, GOP voters will likely select the state’s next senator, as a Republican is virtually assured to win retiring Sen. Sam Brownback’s (R-Kans.) seat. The race between Kansas Republican Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt will be another test of Sarah Palin’s sway, as Tiahrt has been out-fundraised and out-polled by Moran but is banking on enthusiasm generated by the endorsements of Palin and of most tea party groups in the state.

The race has long been ugly, and in a state like Kansas both candidates have long focused on outflanking the other on the right, while discrediting their opponent’s conservative passion:

The biggest blow to either campaign came at the close of July when Moran’s ex-campaign manager called out his former boss on social issues, accusing him of having “winced” at being aggressive with his pro-life stance (pro-life groups largely back Tiahrt). Tiahrt’s camp used that in a TV ad to continue its relentless attack on Moran — he went negative from the start before introducing himself with a positive spot to east KS voters — and reinforce the idea that Moran may vote correctly but is not a leader on causes most dear to conservative activists within the party.

We would like to let you personally know that we have decided that this past election will signify my last term in the House of Representatives. In 2010 it will be time for us to move on to new challenges.

Hoekstra says he’s eying a run to become Michigan’s governor.

First elected in 1992, the former Fortune-500 executive ran on a reform platform, but hasn’t always kept to the script. He went back on his vow to stay in Washington only 12 years, for example, and veered from another promise not to accept money from political action committees, or PACs.

In 2004, Hoekstra was named head of the House intelligence committee, where he rankled Democrats with a disputed 2006 report that the U.S. military had discovered hundreds of WMDs in Iraq. Another 2006 report coming out of the Hoekstra-led intelligence committee found that Iran was well on its way to procucing a nuclear weapon — an assertion blasted by the United Nations as “erroneous” and “misleading.”

Even Hoekstra seems to acknowledge the prickly nature of his tenure. “While I know that on any given day there would be differences on policy, I tried to insure that disagreements would not become disagreeable,” his statement reads. “Civility and respect are cornerstones of our democracy. That has always been my goal and my vision. I recognize that on some days I came up short. I apologize for that.”