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LANSING, MI -- Detroit civil rights attorney Godfrey Dillard is running for Michigan Attorney General.

Dillard announced his candidacy Thursday afternoon, setting up a showdown with fellow Democrat Mark Totten at the party's nominating convention in August.

The nominee would take on Republican incumbent Attorney General Bill Schuette in November.

Totten announced his candidacy back in June of 2013 and has spent nearly a year on the campaign trail, but Dillard's experience and name recognition in Southeast Michigan make him an instant contender for the nomination.

Dillard, speaking with MLive on Thursday, said he was inspired to enter the race because of Schuette's positions on various cultural and social issues. The attorney general should have fought parts of the state's emergency manager law, Dillard argued, but not challenged federal rulings striking down same-sex marriage and juvenile lifer laws.

"We need a check and balance on a Republican-dominated Legislature, governor and even the state Supreme Court," Dillard said. "We need an attorney general that's going to argue the law without partisanship."

Dillard, 65, is a Detroit native with a law degree from the University of Michigan, which he later represented in a high-profile affirmative action admission case. He worked for the Foreign Service during the Carter and Reagan administrations, tried to run for Congress in 2012 and currently teaches law at Wayne State University.

Totten is a law professor at Michigan State University who previously served as a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in West Michigan, a clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Griffith and as a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Appellate Staff.

"Dillard has some very good name recognition in a a critical base for Dems, which gives him a built in advantage, but Mark Totten has been working hard and doing the rubber chicken circuit for the past year," said Lansing-based political consultant TJ Bucholz.

"Either one of them is going to have an uphill battle against Schuette. Within the Republican Party, he's one of the few elected officials who has some successful crossover with the establishment and tea party figures."

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Democrat Godfrey Dillard announces run for Michigan Attorney General

Senator Jeff Klein "...That #39;s What It Means To Be A Democrat..."

By: Adam Bermudez

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Senator Jeff Klein "...That's What It Means To Be A Democrat..." - Video

LOSING ELECTORAL COLLEGE GUARANTEES COMMUNIST DEMOCRAT RULE
Do not let them take away our electoral college. Although the electoral college is flawed, moving into a popular vote system will allow the largest cities in the country to determine the outcome...

By: grindall61

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LOSING ELECTORAL COLLEGE GUARANTEES COMMUNIST DEMOCRAT RULE - Video

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva could not attend the meeting with Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday because three intelligence sources had warned him he might be putting his life in danger.

Democrat Party deputy spokesperson Mallika Boonmeetrakool said yesterday that intelligence sources from the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), the Democrat Party and state security agencies all warned that Abhisit would not be safe if he attended the meeting, she said.

The Democrat Party has asked the caretaker government to confirm if there was indeed an "assassination" team comprised of a group from Lampang that is allegedly in town to identify the target, a group from Klong Toei and another that created a bloody scene at Ramkhamhaeng University in November last year.

"If the government is sincere, then it should check whether the group that stayed at a resort on Ram-Indra Road was the same group that had previously committed a crime and has, so far, been let off scot free," she said.

Meanwhile, red-shirt leader Lungyim Tasawang admitted that he had Phalang Prathet Thai Party leader Dachai Uchukosolkarn carrying a placard featuring the message: "To reform the country, first reform the Democrat Party and the Election Commission before elections'' at the EC-hosted meeting.

He also said that after Abhisit did not show up at the meeting, he posted a message on his Facebook saying: "The meeting has not started, waiting for Abhisit. Going to order brother Sangiem to shoot twice so they disperse and go home."

Lungyim insisted that this message was insignificant and reasoned that everybody knew that some groups would lay siege to the meeting.

"Even Banharn's group could not attend. Everybody knows that if Abhisit fails to reach an agreement with Suthep, everyone will end up being held hostage," he said.

Apart from Abhisit, Pheu Thai Party leader Charupong Ruangsuwan also did not show up at the meeting.

Meanwhile, EC member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn voiced concern over the shooting incident that took place on Tuesday morning near the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road.

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Sources confirm Abhisit's life under threat: Democrats

The leader of the Democrat Party yesterday offered to become involved in the efforts to extricate Thailand from the ongoing political impasse and urged the prime minister to join the efforts for the sake of the country.

Abhisit Vejjajiva said that holding a new election as soon as possible, as sought by government politicians, would not help end the conflict as long as there were still millions of people who would not elect any individual candidates or political parties.

He said that in the February election, only 14 million out of 50 eligible voters cast their ballots for individual candidates or political parties.

Abhisit yesterday said caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra should take part in talks with related parties in order to help ease the deadlock so that the country could move forward. He said Yingluck has avoided such talks by arguing she was not the leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party.

He called on the prime minister to show her sincerity in getting the country out of the political impasse.

"If Yingluck thinks there is a political deadlock and wants to get the country out of this situation, my question is: what does she think should be done? She asked other people to sit down and talk. My question is whether she is ready for such talks?" Abhisit said.

Abhisit, who was Yingluck's predecessor as premier, said it was the duty of all political parties, including his Democrat Party, to help find a solution for the country so that it could move forward.

He said that in a day or two he would propose his idea about solving the problem.

"I would like to talk with the government. If the prime minister is ready to involve the government in the talks, it will not be difficult. An appointment can be made," he said.

Abhisit noted that the latest round of political confrontation has continued for six months and that the prime minister and Suthep Thaugsuban, leader of the antigovernment People's Democratic Reform Committee, have failed to reach any accord.

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Abhisit offers to help end crisis