Since early June, Center for Michigan outreach coordinators have fanned out across the state and met with more than 50 hopefuls for open Michigan House of Representative seats.

The reports back from the field are both encouraging and somewhat disquieting for the more than 1,800 people who have so far taken part in the statewide community conversations of the Michigan's Defining Moment Public Engagement Campaign.

We had a simple goal in this primary season: meet with both Republican and Democratic candidates in races for open House seats, share with them the Common Ground Agenda for Michigan's Transformation developed by concerned citizens statewide, and warm them up for additional citizen meetings after next week's primary.

"The response to Michigan’s Defining Moment has been overwhelmingly positive," reports Center outreach coordinator Nancy Short, who traveled from Livonia to Owosso to Midland to Alpena to meet with candidates from both major parties. When shown the MDM citizens agenda "They are saying 'thank you for doing my homework for me,' and 'you’re doing what needs to be done," and asking 'how quickly can we get moving on these agenda items and get something done?'"

Many candidates have taken the MDM agenda and run with it, using it in campaign literature or posting it on their individual web sites. They told us they are using the factual material in the Michigan Scorecard to frame their agendas and bone up on the issues as they campaign door to door.

And, overwhelmingly, they pledged to us they would go to Lansing as staunch, bipartisan pragmatists.

"Most of the candidates are running against the status quo in Lansing," said outreach coordinator Annette Guilfoyle, who traveled the western side of the state from Niles to Traverse City to meet with candidates. " They see the need for change, the need for anything but what happened with the last budget."

The bipartisan response to MDM in the 21st District, a close race centered in Canton, was typical of our meetings in recent weeks.

"You've laid a great foundation – we need to keep the conversation going through your work and beyond," said Republican candidate Todd LaJoy.

"We must work together (across party lines)," said Democratic candidate Dian Slavens. "There isn't a way to get anything accomplished without it."

But the outreach coordinators were not Pollyanish about the realities of Lansing political culture.

"If the biggest stumbling block to Michigan's transformation is the status quo, I think we need to be very, very cognizant that the political party power structure status quo will be a formidable opponent to the citizen's agenda," said outreach coordinator Kim Johnson, who concentrated on meeting with candidates throughout Metro Detroit. "On two occasions I was point-blank asked 'are you trying to destroy the 2-party system?' On the other hand the candidates who are younger, new to working in politics and eager to be a part of transforming Michigan never asked anything like this and couldn't wait to be part of bipartisan efforts. They were all over the data in the Michigan Scorecard and instantly understood that if elected they would have neither the time nor the tools to obtain informed, meaningful input from Michigan citizens, while a plethora of lobbyists would be at their beck and call to assist them in policy deliberation on single-issue items."