The state of Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes and is second only to Alaska in shoreline, with 3,288 miles. As various presidential candidates shuttle around “the Great Lakes State,” scant attention has been paid to clean water issues. Michigan’s asterisk-laden Democratic primary and diminished candidate pool has left Republicans to address traditionally Democratic issues like the environment and Great Lakes restoration.

The Detroit Free Press notes that of the eight candidates who received a questionnaire asking their views on “tackling invasive species, fixing global warming, diverting Great Lakes water to parched states and supporting $20 billion in funding to restore the lakes,” only Republican Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, responded.

Romney’s chief opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, addressed the Great Lakes for the first time on Saturday, promising that he “would not take one drop of water” from the Great Lakes. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former Democratic candidate, caused a firestorm last fall while campaigning in parched Nevada after suggesting  “states like Wisconsin are awash in water” that could be diverted to other states.Last fall Michigan Republican Rep. Vern Ehlers and three other congressman challenged all the candidates to sign a pledge making Great Lakes restoration a high priority. The response has been less than overwhelming as even the candidate Ehlers endorsed, Romney, has yet to sign. So far, only Great Lake State Democrats Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, and Barack Obama of Illinois have made the pledge, but only Clinton will appear on the Michigan ballot Tuesday.

Last March Ehlers sponsored a bill to establish a collaborative program to protect the Great Lakes. Another Democratic candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, is a co-sponsor of the Ehlers bill, while Clinton and Obama are both co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.