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by Tim Skubick
June 5, 2009

Political junkies got a sneak peek at the upcoming race for governor during a recent forum on Mackinac Island where four Republicans and one Democrat squared off.

Attorney General Mike Cox was geeked when he bounced onto the stage at the Grand Hotel in front of two hundred or so business leaders and fellow politicians. Somebody must have whispered in his ear that he needed to be aggressive — and he was, almost to a fault.

If they scored the debate on words used, Cox would have won running away. Normally that might be a plus, but you could sense that the longer Cox talked, the more the audience wanted him to shut-up.

His response to the first question was a forbearer of things to come. He was asked if he would sell the governor’s residence on Mackinac Island to prove he was a fiscal conservative.

He quickly brushed the question aside by saying, “I’d consider it,” and then launched into a long and obviously prepared dissertation on what Michigan needs and how he was the guy to deliver it.

The others, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, State Senator Tom George, lone Democrat Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith and GOP Congressman Pete Hoekstra, were not nearly as long-winded.

Land would keep the mansion, as would George and Smith. Hoekstra was pointed: “Absolutely. You get rid of it.” Then he readily conceded it was symbolic, to which Cox shot back, “Haven’t we had enough symbolism in the last six and a half years?” — a not so subtle dig at Gov. Symbolism, a.k.a. Jennifer Granholm.

Secretary Land, who gave a shaky speech last February at the state GOP convention, was more on her game on the island except for two questions in which she got a bad case of “deer-in-the-headlight-itis.”

Asked if she favored sending Gitmo terrorists to a vacant prison in the Upper Peninsula as proposed by former Gov. John Engler two weeks ago, Land confessed, “I didn’t hear about it…but off the top of my head, no.”

Last December a special task force recommended dumping the state gasoline tax in favor of a percentage tax applied at the wholesale level. Again she was in the dark, saying, “I haven’t looked at that one yet.”

Afterwards, during a post-debate radio interview, Land awarded herself an A-plus for her debate performance. Talk about your grade inflation.

Newcomer Tom George from Kazoo gave a steady and thoughtful performance and was just happy to get the exposure.

Rep. Smith demonstrated her firm and insightful grasp of state issues and advised the crowd that she had 22 years experience in the Lansing legislative trenches. Too bad “experience” doesn’t count any more in elective politics.

West Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra cemented his standing as one of the front-runners, as his answers were mostly crisp, although he was aware that Cox was hogging the mike.

Asked if he had changed his mind on term limits, Hoekstra shot back that he had, and then he startled the audience by saying, “Sometimes politicians change their minds.” The audience applauded.

With 15 months to go before voters pick candidates for the 2010 race, this first face-to-face gig did not disqualify anyone from the contest.

Too bad Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard was not on stage. He is an unannounced candidate for the GOP nomination, but decided to watch the debate rather than participate.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972.

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Us vs. Us
Push is about to turn into shove in Detroit, where the battle lines between teacher unions and the charter school movement are on a collision course and the allies in this one are unique.

Normally, you would expect Democrats to line up on the side of the Michigan and Detroit Federation of Teachers, which do not want entities outside of Detroit establishing a charter beachhead in Motown.

But get this, President Barack Obama (last time anyone checked, he was still a Democrat), Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state school superintendent and now the latest recruit, the guy who is running the financial end of the Detroit school system, argue its time to open the urban doors to everyone.

Robert Bobb, the emergency fiscal manger, did no bobbing or weaving when asked if he welcomes the challenge of letting non-Detroit charters into the game.

In his characteristic blunt manner, he opined, “Let’s not be afraid. Let’s take ’em all on.”

That “ouch” you hear is from the leaderships of the MFT and DFT and their friends at the rival teacher’s union, the Michigan Education Association.

The MEA has forcefully suggested that you can’t reform an inner city school if you bring in a charter from outside the district.

Bobb disagrees.

He believes it will not destroy the public schools and, “We should never be afraid to compete…We’re not anti-charters.”

But the unions are, and when the two sides butt heads, the resulting shocks waves will either advance the charter movement or set it back. And this time, a host of Democrats are siding with the GOP in hoping it’s the former and not the latter.

Champ or Chump
Everybody and his uncle covered the president’s remarks on the GM bankruptcy on Monday, but the story that went uncovered was the fact that Barack Obama’s ability to serve another term hangs in the balance of this monster auto story.

Yeah. Yeah. You’re saying this guy is only six months into his first term and you are already talking about the term after this?

Guilty. But it’s true.

As General Motors and Chrysler go, so goes the president’s political future.

If the two revamped, scaled down and leaner companies fail, whose fault will it be?

It won’t be George W. Bush’s.

As often as he says, “I don’t want to run the auto companies,” let’s face it, Mr. Obama will be perceived as doing just that. After all, he engineered the removal of the Rick-ster from the helm of General Motors, and many believe he wanted to send the two companies into bankruptcy where they can wipe out union contracts with the stroke of a judge’s pen rather than going through messy talks with labor bosses.

The Obama administration is up to its eyeballs in auto industry stuff and it’s a roll of the political dice that could come up seven or craps.

David Cole, who eyeballs the autos from his research center in A2, nailed it. “Any administration in power at the time of a depression gets a chance to be the 21st century version of the Hoover administration.”

Consequently, if GM and Chrysler survive and truly come back stronger, Obama is a champ.

If not, he’s a chump and a one-term president.