Though the 2009-10 election season is just a few months old, The Mellman Group is already celebrating its third election victory as basketball Hall of Famer and successful entrepreneur Dave Bing, defeated the incumbent to become Mayor of Detroit. Just last month we helped Shirley Abrahamson win an historic victory as Chief Justice of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court and earlier this year we helped Bing win the 15 candidate primary. We were pleased to win once again in Michigan with general consultant Jill Alper of Dewey Square and media consultant Joe Slade White, as well as with Dave’s exceptional campaign team led by campaign manger Charlie Beckham. Beckham graciously thanked The Mellman Group for our role noting, “Though we spent far less on polling than we had hoped, The Mellman Group stood by us day in and day out, offering real wisdom on message, strategy and targeting that proved vital to the success of our campaign.”Though the incumbent Mayor was backed by much of the political establish-ment, our research helped point the way for Dave to use his background as a job-creating businessman who had not been a politician, to win in a city starved for change and jobs. We are proud to have been able to work for such an honorable and effective leader, who we enjoyed watching on the hardwoods when we (and Dave) were a lot younger.Last month, we celebrated with our colleagues at GMMB and campaign manager Heather Coburn after helping Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson become the first progressive to win the non-partisan election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a decade.