Keeping Up With The Candidates, Auf Wiedersehen Edition*

* My wife is a Project Runway junkie, which means that on Thursday nights, I get to fall asleep to the sound of Heidi Klum playing off the most recent loser with a soft “auf wiedersehen.” There are worse ways to fade off into dreamland.

At long last, the herd has been thinned and we now know from which two candidates we will select our next governor: Will it be Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder or Lansing mayor Virg Bernero?

Both men began the campaign as underdogs. Snyder distanced himself any impression that he’s another Dick DeVos “android” candidate by showing he has a personality in a Super Bowl ad proudly declaring he’s a nerd. Bernero was the scrappy unknown who made a late surge by appealing to the unions, as his opponent, Andy Dillon, appealed to the moderates with pro-life beliefs and . Both men trailed in polls as recently as a week ago.

So what happened? It turned out that Dillon was not really running against Bernero and Snyder was not really running against Pete Hoekstra or Mike Cox. Dillon and Snyder were running against each other, and Snyder won, as independents and moderate Democrats flocked to Snyder, leaving Dillon without the people he counted on. By simply holding onto the true blue Democratic rank & file, Bernero breezed to a comfortable victory. [Dillon didn’t win Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Ingham, Kent, Midland, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Saginaw or Genesee counties].

For Snyder, he did pretty well even in places he wasn’t expected to do so. In Kent County, which was expected to be the key to a Hoekstra win, Snyder finished only about 10,000 votes behind Hoekstra. Snyder beat Hoekstra in Wayne and Oakland Counties by 20,000 votes each. Hoekstra finished third in both Wayne and Oakland to Mike Cox and Mike Bouchard, respectively. Also, Snyder about doubled everybody in Macomb County. [All counts via Michigan Secretary of State].

So we say ‘auf wiedersehen’ to the campaigns for Pete Hoekstra, Mike Cox, Mike Bouchard, Dr. Tom George, and Andy Dillon.  It will be interesting to see where they wind up. Bouchard is still the Oakland County Sheriff and will be into the future. But Hoekstra gave up his congressional gig and George, Dillon and Cox were term limited. But fear not for these gentlemen. I doubt they’ll be calling MARVIN for long.

But not all of the races are decided. In the race to replace U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, who is stepping down, GOP challengers Dan Benishek beat Jason Allen by 1 vote. (We finally have our example to show anyone who says their vote won’t matter!) The results won’t be certified until August 23, when, obviously, a recount will be required. The recount could drag on for weeks, which could potentially hurt the GOP’s chances to win in a race that the national party has undoubtedly targeted as an opportunity to pick up a seat in Congress. The question is whether the Republican National Committee will step in and offer either Allen or Benishek a lovely parting gift, such as a sweet job somewhere. If Bush were still president, I’d expect Allen would be named Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Interior next week. But he’s not, so who knows if that’s even an attractive option.

And with that, Keeping Up With The Candidates will be taking a hiatus for a month or so.

Keeping Up With The Candidates, Primary Edition

Just five days to go until Tuesday’s primary, and things have not settled.

Not that anything happened, like one of the perceived leaders of the GOP race being accused of being present and participating in the “legend”ary Manoogian mansion party by someone willing to put his name on it. Mike Cox still denies there ever was a party, and has attacked the affiant, a biker who said he was working security for the affair, by saying he has a rap sheet. (A biker with a rap sheet?! What’s this world coming to!!*) Then he questioned the timing of it. Then he compared himself to Shaquille O’Neal. Each time, the defense gets bolder. The tin hats may have switched sides.

* Sons of Anarchy on FX! Best show on TV not involving the 1960s advertising industry!

As for the campaigns, for weeks now, polling has been so scattershot that many weeks, I’ve opted to not even link to it. The one thing that had been consistent, for the most part, was Andy Dillon’s lead in the Democratic race. Note I said “was.”

This week, the Detroit Free Press and four TV stations commissioned a poll that showed that Lansing mayor Virg Bernero has not only pulled ahead, but may be pulling away. Things seem somewhat bleak for Dillon’s campaign, as Michigan political guru Bill Ballanger of Inside Michigan Politics told Frank Beckman on WJR-AM Bernero will win unless Dillon makes a dramatic push. Considering Bernaro’s campaign appears to be low on cash, it’s not an impossible scenario.

The latest poll shows Bernero with an eight point lead over Dillon, 40-28, with 32 percent undecided. Of course, two weeks ago, polling showed Dillon with a 20 point lead, so perhaps we should just wait and see what happens on Tuesday.

MLive asked both candidates for ideas on fixing Michigan’s economy/tax system. Bernero said he wants to create a state bank of Michigan that will loan money to small businesses. Dillon wants to create a coalition of business, labor, teachers and health care industry leaders to create a better tax policy.

On the GOP side, all of the candidates are making their final appeals to potential voters, who appear to not really care that much. Secretary of State and Mike Bouchard running mate Terri Lynn Land expects that only about 1.7 people will actually go to the polls on Tuesday, or, about 23 percent of registered voters. Cox expects only about 700,000 people to vote in the GOP primary.

As the final ads roll out, Pete Hoekstra is fed up with what he calls “factually incorrect attack ads”:

“Attorney General Mike Cox and his special-interest allies will stop at nothing to mislead voters and falsely attack Pete Hoekstra’s record,” said spokesman John Truscott. “Mike Cox should immediately call on these shadowy third-party groups to end these false attack ads and start being honest with the voters of Michigan.”

In May, he successfully convinced three west Michigan stations to drop ads run by “Americans With Job Security” after he showed the ads made false claims. The most recent ad, run by Michigan Business United, said Hoekstra is “absent on right to life” among other things. Not surprisingly, Cox spokesman Nick DeLeeuw denied the campaign’s involvement.

New endorsements this week go to Rick Snyder, who won the public support of Ford board chairman Bill Ford Jr., Hoekstra and Andy Dillon. The latter two were endorsed by The Grand Rapids Press.

Finally, both Detroit papers are pumping out informational stories designed to help We, The Voters, decide based on the issues. (Ha! Like any election is ever won on the issues!) If something doesn’t appear for one candidate but does for the other, it’s either because the Freep hasn’t run the Democratic analyses yet, or I couldn’t find Pete Hoekstra’s Detroit News Q&A through the paper’s awful search function which doesn’t rank articles in chronological order.

Andy Dillon: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)

Virg Bernero: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)

Rick Snyder: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)/Analysis (Freep)

Mike Cox: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)/ Analysis (Freep)

Pete Hoekstra: Positions (Freep)/ Analysis (Freep)

Mike Bouchard: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)/ Analysis (Freep)

Dr. Tom George: Positions (Freep)/ Q&A (News)/ Analysis (Freep)

Keeping Up With The Candidates, July 23

We’re about a week and a half from the primaries, which means that you won’t get through an episode of “Wheel of Fortune” without seeing an ad supporting/attacking somebody.

As I mentioned last week, the polls this primary season have fluctuated so much throughout the campaign that it’s hard to put much stock into them, even this close to the election. Just last week, House Speaker and Democratic candidate Andy Dillon was sporting a 20 point lead. In a poll done this week by the Detroit News and WDIV-TV, Dillon only leads 34.3 percent to 25.1 percent over Lansing mayor Virg Bernero. Dillon actually lost .7 of a point while Bernero gained 10 points. With 40 percent still undecided, the race could go either way.

On the GOP side, the same poll still shows a close race, but not the three-way 18 percent deadlock we saw last week. The poll shows Attorney General Mike Cox leading Congressman Pete Hoekstra by less than a point (26.4 percent to 25.6 percent) with Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder about six points back (20.2 percent). The poll shows Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard with 11 percent. Dr. Tom George’s campaign appears to be on life support with only 1.8 percent. 14.4 percent of those polled are still undecided. While he leads now, Cox’s campaign has to be concerned that 1/4 of the Republicans polled have an unfavorable view of him.

However, there is major variable that could greatly affect the final result: Michigan’s primary election system, which allows any voter to choose which party’s election he wants to vote in, regardless of that voter’s party preference or lack thereof. Dillon may have a 10 point lead among “likely Democratic primary voters” but there’s no guarantee those people will choose between Dillon or Bernero. For whatever reason, a hypothetical moderate Democrat may opt to instead to choose among the Republican candidates, which would preclude them from voting Democratic, opening the door for the more liberal Bernero, who enjoys a plethora of support from unions.

Rick Snyder is actively pursuing the hypothetical voter I described. As the GOP base seems split east and west side by Cox and Hoekstra (they should settle it with a rap battle), who are attacking each other, Snyder sees the independent and Democratic refugees as the key to a victory. He picked up the endorsement of former moderate GOP Congressman Joe Schwarz. He was also endorsed by former Governor Bill Milliken.

The rest of the lead GOP candidates are seemingly in a race to see who can go the furthest right. Last week, we talked about Mike Bouchard’s support of the Arizona immigration law and making Michigan a right-to-work state. This week, Cox, Bouchard and Hoekstra are fighting over who loves the Tea Party more.

Pete Hoekstra took the first step by joining Fox News fixture and GOP Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s Tea Party caucus. Cox’s spokesman Nick DeLeeuw responded by saying “First!” …

“Mike Cox has been traveling with the tea party and attending tea party events from the very beginning,” DeLeeuw said. “Mike Cox has been leading that fight, while Pete Hoekstra has been voting against the tea party interests.”

… to which Hoekstra rebutted with, essentially, I was tea party before tea party was cool.

“I was the tea party movement before the tea party,” Hoekstra said.

Pete Hoekstra was the Mad Hatter, and don’t forget it.

Not wanting to be left out of the Tea Party party, Bouchard picked up the key Tea Party endorsement of Joe The Plumber. So he’s got that going for him … which is nice.

In other endorsement news this week, Cox and Dillon picked up the endorsement of The Detroit News. Dillon also picked up the endorsement of Detroit mayor Dave Bing. Bernero picked up a new slew of union endorsements. Hoekstra received the Michigan Teamsters endorsement for the GOP primary, anyway (Why wasn’t this one posted on his website?)

Finally, like the Detroit Free Press did last month, The Detroit News has published feature articles on each one of the gubernatorial candidates, with videos. [Bernero, Dillon, Cox, Hoekstra, Snyder, Bouchard, George. Don’t know when/if the Democratic profiles are coming, but I assume the are.] Some are more interesting than others, like Dr. Tom George’s profile, in which he discusses how all of the tax break talk, without more, will bankrupt the state. Dr. George, when has honesty ever won an election?

Keeping Up With The Candidates, July 16

As the primary is only three weeks away, the candidates are fighting for an advantage against the other men seeking their respective party’s nomination. Peter Luke of MLive suggests that the thing they are fighting more than their opponents is voter frustration and apathy.

We start off this week with the Democrats. Andy Dillon picked up the endorsement of former Detroit mayor and Dickinson Wright chairman emeritus Dennis Archer. [The Detroit News].

In the meanwhile, Virg Bernero, appearing at a visit to Siena Heights University in Adrian, said that he’s a bulletproof candidate: [The Daily Telegram/Adrian].

“The two main candidates are largely unknown, Speaker of the House Andy Dillon and myself,” Bernero said, but he added that a new poll conducted for his campaign sampling 600 likely primary voters showed Dillon to be the more vulnerable candidate.
“The two Achilles’ heels that my opponent had — and I have no Achilles’ heels, really, we tried to test some — but he has two that are deadly,” Bernero said. “One is that he’s anti-choice (on abortion) and anti-stem cell research, and that is deadly in a Democratic primary, come to find out. And, two, his corporate raider, corporate boardroom experience of running people off and shipping jobs overseas. They’re almost equally negative and very toxic.”

I want to think that was a joke. Yeah, it had to be a joke, right?

About those Achilles’ heels, Laura Berman of The Detroit News agrees with Bernero that Dillon’s pro-life/anti-embryonic stem cell research stances will matter.

But when they will matter may be another issue. A poll released Tuesday has Dillon ahead of Bernero 35 percent to 15 percent, with 50 percent undecided. Of course, wait a day or two and those numbers will likely be closer. [Detroit Free Press].

The news was heavier on the GOP side this week. (That’s been the case more often lately. More candidates, closer race). The party is certainly confident that whomever wins its primary will be the next governor. Said State Republican Party chairman Ron Weiser:

“People are going to want a change. We saw that in 2008, and Obama took advantage of it,” Weiser told reporters in a conference call. “And certainly as Republicans we’re going to take advantage of the same thing.”

He added “I know there’s always the possibility that something strange can happen, but we certainly are overwhelming favorites now to take the governorship.”

The same poll mentioned earlier shows Pete Hoekstra, Rick Snyder and Mike Cox in a dead heat, all with 18 percent, while Mike Bouchard is a distant 9 percent and Dr. Tom George at one percent.

It should be said that polling numbers have been all over the place in this election, so, for both races, take them for what they are worth. It’s the score at the end of the third quarter. Might be the result, might not.

Bouchard’s people say the numbers are way off. His Minister of Information campaign manager Ted Prill said the campaigns internal polling shows Bouchard tied for the lead with 19 percent, with Cox and Snyder polling at 16 and 12 percent, respectively.

Bouchard has been more active in advocating the GOP dogma, coming out in support of both a Michigan equivalent to the controversial Arizona immigration law (again) and making Michigan a right-to-work state.

He will speak to a Tea Party forum next week about the Arizona immigration law. He wrote a newspaper op-ed and released a commercial about the right-to-work issue. Jeff Cranson of The Grand Rapids Press asks whether this is Bouchard’s Hail Mary pass.

Speaking of the Tea Party, the Livingston Daily says they have the GOP’s attention.

Michigan’s “tea party” groups could affect dozens of local races, as well as those for the state Legislature. Making an impact in Michigan’s gubernatorial race will be harder, but the enthusiasm of newly minted political activists could help pick a Republican nominee, and the field knows it.

Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard all have courted the “tea party” vote. Although Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder is seen by some as the most moderate of the group, his business success and his status as the only nonpolitician helps him, Ballenger said.

Pete Hoekstra was in Holland with President Barack Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm for the groundbreaking of a new battery plant.  He used the opportunity to criticize Obama and the stimulus bill, which at least in part will fund the the new LG Chem plant.

“If you take a look around, you will see companies that were built by individuals and families,” Hoekstra said in a YouTube video he posted on his campaign website. “They have never received a government stimulus package.”

Of course, the companies he’s speaking of weren’t offered one and who knows what they would have done if the money was on the table. (I’d like to see the company that says “We’d like to build a new plant in your state/district/city, but please, do not offer us any tax breaks or other economic incentives! Give that money back to the people!”)

Of course, Hoekstra has been attacked in ads from unnamed entities for supporting the stimulus bill, which he did not vote for. When he was criticized in the Democratic debate for not supporting the bill, he responded via Twitter:

Democrats blasting me for voting against stimulus package last year. At least THEY got the facts right that I voted no!

Except for his appearance in the GOP debate earlier this week, Mike Cox stayed out of the news, but for his official duties, in which he again slammed the Obama Administration for filing suit to block the aforementioned Arizona immigration bill. His office will file an amicus brief in support of the bill.

At a campaign appearance in Owosso, Rick Snyder said simply fixing Michigan isn’t enough. To compete, Michigan needs to reinvent itself. He also talked about the troubling trend of college graduates leaving the state to find work.

Finally, yes, four of the five GOP candidates debated yet again this week, with Snyder opting to hold a town meeting in Grand Rapids instead. [WOOD-TV Video].

The candidates that were there didn’t inspire confidence, said the Detroit Free Press:

Tuesday night, in the last debate before the August primary, voters got a better look at the distinctions among the candidates than they had before. But it’s also clear that some of the candidates still cling to unrealistic schemes for navigating Michigan’s way to long-term solvency.

Only state Sen. Tom George, for example, seems to understand that the tax cuts proposed by Attorney General Mike Cox and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard will bankrupt the state. That won’t attract jobs any better than the current onerous business tax environment.

Cox also continues to indulge overly pollyannaish solutions to the gridlock in Lansing.

Cox — and nearly everyone else — fails to explain how [bipartisanship] could now be accomplished with term-limited, politically entrenched legislators who so far haven’t budged toward compromise.

In Supreme Court election news … there isn’t any. Today is the deadline for non-party affiliated (i.e. independent) candidates to submit their paperwork to be put on the ballot. As of 2pm, no one has, according to the Board of Elections. The remaining candidates will be nominated by parties at their political conventions in late August.

Keeping Up With The Candidates: July 2 Edition

This week started off with a powder keg issue for Michigan politicians: Congress’s failure to extend jobless benefits.

With Michigan’s (somewhat) improved unemployment rate still hovering somewhere over 13 percent, all gubernatorial candidates are stuck between, on one hand, trying to play up fiscal responsibility for a state that is broke,* and on the other hand, showing the proper amount of compassion for the thousands who were first laid off from their livelihoods, and now are uncomfortably close to suffering the ultimate indignity: being laid off from unemployment.

* Yes, I know the Congress is the one not extending benefits, but the candidate’s comments will undoubtedly be twisted to show they are in favor of some kind of welfare state.

Jackie Headapohl of the Grand Rapids Press called all of the candidates to find out their thoughts on the issue, with predictable results:

The offices of Republicans Tom George, Pete Hoekstra and Mike Cox, as well as the office of Democratic candidate and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero did not return calls or e-mails yesterday, but  Bouchard, Snyder and Democratic candidate Andy Dillon offered statements through their spokespeople.

GOP candidate Michael Bouchard is apparently against an extention. At least that’s what it seems, based on the statement released by his spokesperson, Marie Antoinette Ted Prall:

A spokeswoman for Bouchard said, "Mike Bouchard believes that the best way to combat unemployment is to make Michigan the place to do business again. As a Senator, Mike was a leader in crafting legislation that gave people a hand up, not a hand out. That’s the same kind of governor he will be."

Fellow GOP candidate Rick Snyder and Democratic candidate Andy Dillon favor extending the benefits:

According to his communication director, Rick Snyder "doesn’t support increasing the national debt and raising taxes. He does believe that federal unemployment benefits should be extended to help put food on the table by cutting spending to offset the costs."

Democratic candidate and State House Speaker Andy Dillon is a proponent of extending federal unemployment benefits according to a campaign spokesman. "Far too many people are out of work and need the help," he said.

Elsewhere, Dillon and Virg Bernero debated again on Monday, and civility again took a back seat to one liners. Such is life in politics.

Bernero repeatedly referred to Dillon as "speaker of the mess" and said it’s too late for him to lay out ideas he should have implemented in the last four years as the leader of the state House.

"You can’t handle the job you got and you want a promotion?" Bernero asked during the taping of the debate at WTVS public television studios in Wixom.

Dillon shot back that unemployment has soared in Lansing during Bernero’s administration, auto manufacturing employment has dwindled from 28,000 to 16,000 and the city’s credit rating has been lowered.

"In your term as mayor your budget has gone up every year except this one," Dillon said.

He touted his experience as a private investor and legislative leader, saying the combination gives him the background needed to lead the state out of its economic morass.

"My opponent is a 20-year career politician now running for his sixth office," the speaker said.

Bernero charged that Dillon "screwed up" the Michigan Business Tax and the Promise grants for college students. "Now he wants to circle back" and fix those problems, he said. He also said Dillon is on record opposing national health care reform legislation.

Dillon replied he never opposed the federal health care bill. He fired back that Bernero was labeled an ineffective legislator in a survey of his peers and that he was in the Legislature when the state’s structural deficit took root.

According to the Michigan Messenger, both Democrats will be firing up the ad wars after the Fourth of July. In other ad news, remember Mike Cox’s allegedly stolen and internet leaked ads defending him against potential Manoogian Mansion attacks? Cox is running them in Detroit.

Asked whether the commercials are being run because of persistent questions about Cox’s investigation, campaign manager Stu Sandler said: "No. We wanted to introduce Mike’s background as a prosecutor."

Eh, ok.

Also the Detroit Free Press has done a series of profiles on all of the primary candidates: Bernero, Dillon, Cox, Snyder, Pete Hoekstra, Bouchard and Dr. Tom George. (Incidentally, please take no offense, Tom George supporters, at the lack of news in these posts about your candidate. I’ve not found any stories about him in the major papers, or I would have posted it.)

Supreme Court candidates still have a couple weeks to officially enter the race, but this we know: Justice Robert P. Young Jr. is in (you can follow his campaign on Facebook here if you are so inclined), and Justice Elizabeth A. Weaver is as well … as an independent (no Facebook page found). So a new GOP candidate will probably run against Weaver for the MSC (and when I say “probably” I mean “definitely.”)

But will the Democrats put anyone up against her? And will any of the new candidates have a Facebook page for you to follow/spam? See you next week.

Keeping Up With The Candidates

As the August primary election nears, the candidates for Michigan’s statewide offices are ratcheting up the mudslinging and accusations.

But first, in positive news, Mike Cox made news simply by releasing an ad that was, uh, not negative. [The Detroit News]

Attorney General Mike Cox plays up his service in the U.S. Marines in the third major TV ad of his campaign, which was launched today, and it’s the first spot that doesn’t attack one of his GOP opponents.

The ad shows the Republican gubernatorial candidate in his dress blues, and the voiceover says: "At 18 he enlisted in the Marines. He’s never backed down from a fight."

Cox served in the Marines in the United States and Korea from 1980-83. He was honorably discharged at the rank of corporal.

His background as a Wayne County assistant prosecutor is also highlighted with a scene showing Cox ducking under crime scene tape.

I notice this ad wasn’t paid for by “Eagle Strategies.”

That pretty much covers the positive news. The rest is mostly right-on-right crime. This week, ads his campaign had prepared for the inevitable Manoogian mansion party accusations were leaked on the internet. [MyFoxDetroit.com]

The Michigan gubernatorial campaign of Republican Attorney General Mike Cox says four of its unaired TV ads were stolen and posted on YouTube.

Campaign officials said Tuesday they were talking with attorneys to determine how to proceed and to identify who posted the commercials under the tag AnyOneButCox.

The ads feature people including former police officers defending Cox and his role in putting former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars.

Cox’s campaign was quick to blame his opponents for stealing the ads but without any proof. Kind of like the Manoogian mansion accusations of which he complains.

"None of us in law enforcement or the media found once person who could say they were there, or that a crime happened," Cox said. "What does it matter to running for governor?

"I’m not running (for governor) to talk about rumors from seven years ago."

In other GOP primary news, Pete Hoekstra picked up the endorsement of retiring Rep. Vern Ehlers. [MLive] He also criticized President Obama for not closing the Chicago locks to protect Lake Michigan from the onslaught of Asian carp after a carp was found six miles past the electronic barrier.

Earlier this year, Hoekstra sponsored a bill that would have given the Army Corps of Engineers the authority to close the locks, apply fish poisons and install new barriers.

"Closing the locks is not enough, and the Army Corps has acknowledged that they have no intention to do so," Hoekstra said.

I don’t know what good it would do to give the ACE the authority to close locks when the organization has fought the push to do so. It’s like giving me the authority to watch the Twilight movies. Thanks, but I’ll pass.

It seems Rick Snyder wasn’t really a nerd in high school. (In other words, there wasn’t much news from the Snyder camp this week.) He did pick up a co-endorsement (along with Mike Bouchard) from the Detroit Regional Chamber. The Chamber also endorsed Andy Dillon on the Democrat side. [MLive]

Despite trailing Cox, Snyder and Hoekstra in pretty much all statewide polls, Bouchard is the leader in metro Detroit. [MLive] Then again, these polls are fluctuating so much from day-to-day that I’m trying to avoid references to them. This is interesting because metro Detroit is obviously has a large effect in Michigan elections

The GOP candidates will all be in Grand Rapids tonight for a debate on WOOD-TV. As with the Democratic debate earlier this week, eastsiders should be able to follow the debate online here.

With only two candidates, the Democrats are so much easier to follow, and not at all less exciting.

Dillon and Virg Bernero hurled verbal bombs at each other during a debate on June 21.

Dillon called Bernero a career politician seeking his "sixth office" in 20 years and who was exaggerating his record as mayor. But it contained little of the bite and specificity Bernero aimed at a large swath of a Democratic primary electorate that hasn’t yet made up its mind.

Bernero criticized Dillon for an FY 2010 budget crafted with Senate Republicans that relies on all cuts and no revenues. Casualties have been cities that have lost revenue sharing and college students who lost their $4,000 Michigan Promise scholarship.

Post-budget attempts by Dillon to raise revenue to soften the cuts went nowhere.

"People were looking to the speaker for leadership, looking for him to stand up for those scholarship funds," Bernero said. After Dillon said he’d work to restore the university aid, Bernero said Dillon "now wants to be elected governor to fix so many of the mistakes he made."

Dillon responded that Bernero offered no solutions of his own and that during his tenure in the Legislature, helped create the current structural budget deficit. "The mayor constantly bashes me (for budget cuts) but I don’t hear him calling for a tax increase to fund these programs."

Bernero was profiled at length by the Detroit Free Press. It’s the beginning of a series of profiles. Dillon’s will appear on Friday.

Bernero is also getting a push by the AFL-CIO.

Another Democratic Candidate Bites The Dust

And yet another Democratic gubernatorial candidate has opted against running this year. This time, it’s a guy who just entered the fray:

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — State Sen. Hansen Clarke of Detroit was the first Democrat to jump in after Lt. Gov. John Cherry withdrew from the Democratic race for governor. But now Clarke is dropping out as well.

Clarke said Friday in a status update on his Facebook page that he won’t be a candidate for governor this year.

A message was left with his campaign office seeking comment.

The complete list of declared gubernatorial candidates in both parties, per the AP:

REPUBLICANS IN THE RACE:

—Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard of Birmingham

—Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia

—State Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo County’s Texas Township

—U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland

—Venture capitalist Rick Snyder of Ann Arbor

___

DEMOCRATS IN THE RACE:

—State Sen. Hansen Clarke of Detroit

—State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith of Washtenaw County’s Salem Township

The lack of candidates is probably a good thing for the higher profile prospective candidates as they explore whether they can actually raise the money needed to run their options. This AP article discusses these undeclared Democratic candidates.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The surprising withdrawal of Lt. Gov. John Cherry from the Michigan governor’s race presented a golden opportunity to other Democrats who thought they’d have to wait years to run.

But they don’t have much time to decide if they’re in or out.

Some of the five Republicans in the race are poised to begin running ads in February, giving them the chance to make the first favorable impression on voters. And whichever of the uncommitted Democrats jumps into race first could grab the biggest share of donations and endorsements, leaving latecomers with crumbs.

"You can buy a little bit more time as long as everybody else is still up in the air on this," political strategist Tom Shields of Marketing Resources Group said Thursday. "But when those campaign committees start forming, and people start raising money and getting commitments, that’s when you need to either fish or cut bait."

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak hears the clock ticking. Although he has a safe congressional seat and powerful committee assignments, the Democrat from Menominee is considering running for governor.

"This isn’t something that presents itself very often," Stupak told The Associated Press. "You have to take a look at it."

He’s heading to Detroit on Friday to meet with party activists and get a better feel for whether he wants to run. At the same time, he is deeply involved in negotiations over the federal health care overhaul bill and language restricting how abortions are covered by insurance.

A run for governor "is appealing, but from a practical point of view, can you do it with this compressed time line we have? Health care compresses it even more," Stupak said. He noted that GOP gubernatorial candidate and fellow congressman Pete Hoekstra faces some of the same constraints, "but he’s at least been out there another year."

Stupak knows his opposition to abortion could prove a hurdle to getting the nomination. The former state trooper also is a gun-rights advocate. But he has spoken with former U.S. Rep. David Bonior, an abortion opponent who ran in the 2002 Democratic governor’s race, and said he’s encouraged so far.

Among the others eyeing the race, University of Michigan Regent Denise Ilitch spent Wednesday evening introducing herself at a Democratic mixer in Grand Rapids after discussing a possible run with White House and Democratic Governors Association officials in Washington the night before.

Although she won a statewide race in 2008 as regent, the lawyer from Bingham Farms isn’t well-known in Democratic circles, despite her family owning sports teams, casinos and the Little Caesar’s pizza chain. She’s working to change that, but could be hampered by a pattern of donating to Republicans as well as Democrats.

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reports Ilitch gave $2,000 to former President George W. Bush in 2003, the same year she gave $1,000 to Republican U.S. Rep. Candice Miller. Former President George H.W. Bush got $1,000 in 1992 from Ilitch, who gave the Michigan Republican State Committee $1,000 in 2000.

Ilitch also donated $3,300 to 2008 Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and at least $7,500 over the years to Democrats such as Sens. Debbie Stabenow, Carl Levin and the late Ted Kennedy. The Michigan Democratic State Central Committee received $3,000 between 2005 and 2009.

She did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday to her law office.

Other Democrats considering a run are also on record as donating to Republicans. House Speaker Andy Dillon, who has formed an exploratory committee, gave $1,000 to the Michigan Republican State Committee in 1994, records show.

"We’re going to chalk it up to a youthful indiscretion," Dillon spokesman Dan Mahoney said Thursday.

State Sen. Hansen Clarke of Detroit was the first Democrat to jump in after Cherry dropped out, and Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith has been in the race since last summer. Others looking at getting in are Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, former Genesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee and Michigan State University Trustee George Perles.

One other potential candidate is Robert Bowman, CEO of Major League Baseball’s Internet operations and state treasurer in the 1980s under then-Gov. James Blanchard. Okemos public relations consultant Bob Kolt said Blanchard and others are talking to Bowman about getting into the race.

Bowman, who has a summer home in Harbor Springs and works in New York City, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.