Victors on Michigan's 2006 ballot have yet to take their new oaths of office, but many already are enlisting in the cause of those who want to be sworn in as president in 2009.

Most notably, Attorney General Mike Cox last week became Michigan chairman for the John McCain 2008 Exploratory Committee, and national chairman for McCain's law enforcement supporters.

Arizona Senator McCain, winner of Michigan's 2000 Republican presidential primary, and outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a son of Oakland County and the late Governor George Romney, are stirring the biggest waves here organizationally after being frequent visitors and big contributors for GOP candidates.

Michigan candidates this year also had support of other potential Republican presidential contenders, as well as such Democrats as New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the latest national media star, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, thin of credentials but thick of clippings.

Another potential Democratic contender, ex-Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, recently gained support of ex-U.S. Representative David Bonior, former House minority whip and unsuccessful contender for the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Winner of that nomination and of two terms as governor, Jennifer Granholm is keeping her powder dry on her 2008 presidential preferences. But Republican Cox weighed in last week:

"I look forward to helping Senator McCain win Michigan again and recruit law enforcement across the country to support him should he decide to run for president…[ He] is very popular in Michigan and someone who I have always admired for his integrity and straight talk."

Republican National Committeeman Chuck Yob has declared for McCain, and it is likely that Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land will declare for him when McCain declares for the race.

John Yob, Chuck's son and a political consultant for recent statewide campaigns for Land and others, is state director for McCain's committee. Detroit area industrialist and civic leader Jim Nicholson, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 1996, is expected to be McCain's finance chairman in Michigan.

Representative Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Bellaire) is a legislative co-chair for McCain's state committee. The McCain camp said the approximately $180,000 that it distributed in Michigan for the 2006 cycle was "in the top two or three in the country." McCain also helped raise about $1.3 million in appearances for the Michigan GOP, Cox, and Land.

The Romney camp said his Commonwealth PAC distributed $267,000 to the state party and assorted candidates and groups, and he raised "well over $1 million" for Michigan Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader-elect Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) (who defeated Senator Jason Allen (RTraverse City) for the position), is among 50 legislators on Romney's state steering committee.

Media reports that Romney has wavered on abortion rights and gay marriage suggest that at least two

Michigan members of Romney's steering committee have second thoughts. One of them, Representative Jack Hoogendyke (R-Kalamazoo), told me Friday he has been discussing the issues with Romney and is "still hopeful" to continue support.

Further trumpeting gay marriage as an issue at this extremely early stage of Michigan presidential campaigning is the bizarre block that Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who is wooing state conservatives, has placed on confirmation of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet Neff of East Grand Rapids as a federal district judge, because of her participation in a gay marriage ceremony of a friend in 2002.

The Reverend Jerry Zandstra of Grand Rapids, who dropped out after a spirited but under-financed campaign for the 2006 Republican U.S. Senate primary and now is on the steering committee of Brownback's presidential exploration, said Friday he was the one who called Brownback's attention to an unconfirmed press report that Neff "officiated" at the ceremony.

It's not clear that Neff did any more than join in the ceremony by expressing best wishes, but even if she did more, that should not be enough to block confirmation.

While Zandstra said the issue of Neff's views should be explored, he correctly said it would be "extreme" to deny confirmation because of Neff's participation in the ceremony.

Zandstra, who is among those mentioned by Michigan GOP leaders as a potential 2008 challenger of Senator Carl Levin, said: "He's going to be hard to beat. He's gifted intellectually. … I don't know whether taking him on makes sense. It could be a bit of a suicide mission."

Smart fellow.

Zandstra currently is a senior fellow at the religious-oriented Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, where he previously was the policy director, and is preaching at a Christian Reformed Church where he had been pastor before running this year.

A U.P. First

Before his 2000 election to represent the western end of the Upper Peninsula, Representative Rich Brown (D-Bessemer) for 16 years was clerk of Gogebic County, became president of the Michigan Association of County Clerks, and in 1992 was Michigan County Clerk of the Year.

So the title was a good fit last week when Speaker-elect Andy Dillon (D-Redford), citing his extensive "wealth of experience," named term-limited Brown as House Clerk, a job with high visibility on the rostrum when the House is in session and vast administrative responsibilities off camera.

Brown, 56, a former reporter for the Ironwood Daily Globe, looks "forward to continuing my service to the people of Michigan." He'll be the first of 32 House clerks since statehood in 1835 to be from the Upper Peninsula.

Of the 70 speakers of the House since statehood, only two were from the Upper Peninsula, Chippewa County's Martin R. Bradley in 1933-34 and Victor A. Knox in 1947-1952.

George Weeks retired this year after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.