LANSING -- The Michigan Republican Party kicked off its convention here this weekend with a prayer to "deliver us from liberalism and secular humanism" and for "the election of conservative Republicans."

It's unclear whether the Almighty will be offering any aid come November, but the GOP will need some sort of help if it's to endure what is shaping up as a difficult 2008 election season.

"We're definitely on the defensive," said Michael Brown, an assistant prosecutor from Monroe and one of the 3,000 or so local activists milling around the convention floor at the Lansing Center. From those grass-roots Republicans to the top of the state party leadership, there were acknowledgements that a number of factors point to a challenging year:

• In the presidential race, the state GOP lost what may have been its best chance to carry Michigan for the first time in 20 years when Mitt Romney bowed out this month.

• In the U.S. Senate race, a popular incumbent with a huge financial advantage -- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit -- makes the all-but-certain GOP challenger, state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, among the longest of long shots among Senate hopefuls across the country.

• Democrats are targeting two Republican-held U.S. House seats, promising to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into bids to unseat veteran Rep. Joe Knollenberg of Bloomfield Township and freshman Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton.

Democratic challengers in both races will benefit from the massive fundraising advantage the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee holds over its Republican counterpart.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/POLITICS01/802180368