Tired of the Circus
August 6, 2010
When Rick Snyder announced his candidacy for governor with a commercial calling himself “One Tough Nerd,” the reporters who cover the state Capitol groaned.
Clearly, this wasn’t the way to win the GOP nomination, the reporters sniffed on their weekly public television discussion, Off the Record. Clever, yes. Eye-catching, yes. Grudgingly, they agreed it had won the candidate some name recognition.
But brawling, macho Michiganders would never vote for someone who called himself a “nerd.” Weeks later, the journalists were even more sneeringly incredulous when Lansing’s volatile mayor announced he was running for governor.
“Virg Bernero?” the show’s host said, in the same tone of voice you’d use if someone suggested Jennifer Granholm play tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Forget it, they seemed to be saying. He was a small-time mayor, an imitation table-pounding populist, a throwback to another era. Why, he was so amateurish that he sometimes drove around the state to campaign in a car with only his wife along.
As for Rick Snyder — everybody agreed he didn’t have a chance in today’s GOP. Sure, he might be one of these high-tech Ann Arbor millionaires, but the Michigan Chamber of Commerce didn’t endorse him. His pro-stem-cell research views doomed him with the GOP’s most powerful lobby, Michigan Right to Life.
Everybody agreed a month ago that the Republican contest was a struggle between Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who had money, endorsements, and organization, and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the only candidate from heavily Republican west Michigan.
The Democratic nomination seemed certain to go to Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, who was tall, handsome, and had political connections and firm business community ties.
But guess what.
Rick Snyder won the GOP nomination going away. Pete Hoekstra, who does know how to count, conceded defeat before any of the news organizations called the race.
Virg Bernero was the clear Democratic winner from the moment the first votes came streaming in. He won even in Detroit, where Dillon was supposed to have concentrated strength.
So what happened?
Simply this. The people are ahead of the pundits. The voters know Michigan is facing a profound crisis. The brawn-based, big factory economic model that made the state a powerhouse for a century is vanishing.
Never again will the auto industry be a mass employer of essentially unskilled labor at high wages. Most of those jobs have already disappeared — never to return. That has meant far less revenue streaming in to Lansing, just when the state has more obligations than ever, and when more investment in education seems essential if the state is ever to turn things around.
Somehow, Michigan has to find a new economic model — and state government has to find a way to streamline itself and pay its bills, while doing what is needed for its citizens.
This has been clear for years, but those in power have done nothing to address the core problems. While polls show a growing public perception that the system is broken and a vast majority agreeing that the legislature is dysfunctional, most of the establishment candidates offered few solutions.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard bashed unions and illegal immigrants. Mike Cox promised big tax cuts for business, without saying how he’d replace the lost revenue.
Speaker of the House Andy Dillon seemed unable to articulate why government had failed. He had some sensible ideas for saving health care costs, but while his ideas angered unions, he didn’t seem to know how to sell them to voters. In the end, he failed to convince almost anyone that he would be able to improve things.
But Virg Bernero offered table-thumping passion and a promise that he’d look out for workers and bring back the good old days of a prosperous Michigan. Rick Snyder offered a vision of leadership from outside the traditional dreary categories of the Lansing squirrel cage.
In retrospect, their victories shouldn’t have been surprising. Voters seemed to be in a no-nonsense mood in this election.
Right to Life of Michigan’s embrace of Cox seemed to leave voters unmoved. The more Bouchard acted like a demagogue, the further he fell in the polls.
In fact, dirty politics seemed to get little traction. This year’s sleaze award ought to go to a Macomb County politician named Kim Meltzer, who wanted the GOP nomination for a Senate seat. First she began by bashing illegal immigrants. When that failed, she sent a flyer making the completely untrue accusation that one of her opponents wanted to legalize gay sex acts in public places.
She finished a poor third. Michigan residents may be more in the mood for solutions than a circus this year. What remains to be seen is whether Snyder or Bernero can convince the voters that they have the right ones.
***
Does one vote matter? Ask State Sen. Jason Allen or Dan Benishek, a Tea Party-backed physician, who ran against each other for the GOP nomination in Michigan’s First Congressional District, which includes the Upper Peninsula. The unofficial totals: Benishek 27,091; Allen 27,090. Expect a recount. Or maybe several.
Veteran journalist and national Emmy Award winner Jack Lessenberry teaches at Wayne State University, serves as Michigan Radio’s senior political analyst and writes regularly for several publications. He also serves as The Toledo Blade’s writing coach and ombudsman and is host of the weekly television show Deadline Now on WGTE-TV in Toledo.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Lynn Ochberg // Aug 6, 2010 at 5:01 am
If you had ever spoken to Virg about his family or mental health or womens’ rights, as I was privileged to do once some years ago, you’d have had a better grip on his readiness to govern intelligently. I support him wholeheartedly.
2 Bob Alexander // Aug 6, 2010 at 6:37 am
For Virg Bernero to win he must upstage Rick Snyder as the more realistic “government businessman” to meet Michigan voters’ needs. Virg won the primary by calling for the people to get involved and for Washington to stop exporting our jobs and to increase aid to small business and education. Now Virg must call for the people and businesses of Michigan to address our core problems that have been ignored for years. We the people of Michigan must make massive investment in education and other effective solutions, just like our major Michigan businesses Ford did, and GM and Chrysler need to do. Virg must propose the solutions that we in Michigan must implement to pull the State of Michigan “Business” out of our 10 year depression. Onward to victory.
3 Diana Ketola // Aug 6, 2010 at 7:46 am
Virg Bernero “gets it” and his message resonated with voters across the state. Other candidates mouthed the words “jobs, jobs, jobs” but Bernero has a proven track record of bringing jobs to Michigan. Michigan families are in dire straits and we have to do something NOW. Not someday, sometime, but right NOW.
4 Sylvia McCollough // Aug 6, 2010 at 8:50 am
Nice article Jack, I completely agree with you. This year is all about what we used to call in the “old” days, a “Bread & Butter” election. People are worried about their ‘pocketbooks,’ a good education for our kids, decent jobs, and a quality way of life. We don’t give a damn about partisan politics or who controls what committees, chairs, or holds the ‘gavel’…. etc. etc.
My gut feeling all along , was the Primary would come down to Bernero and Snyder, which I said more than once. Snyder split the conservative vote, picked up the Independent Milliken vote, and swung some conservative Dems to his way of thinking. If you’ve been around long enough in this turning of the Dome, its not really rocket science. After I read the County numbers, and “crunched” a few percentages, it’s pretty clear what Virg has to do in order to win. First off, he needs the money to get his message out! Who cares what so called “pundits” say…when was the last time any of them actually got into the “Trenches?” Or covered the “Field?” Never, as I remember, and I’ve been in this business over 5 decades. Those of us who actually understand the main issues and live it day by day, also understand what needs to be done..we don’t need someone behind a desk somewhere explaining it all to us?
Voters want results, not insults. They want a tough candidate who has the brains and guts to stand up for the People, face down the so-called “leaders” and get the Job Done!! WE want a candidate who not only talks the ‘game’ but can Walk The Walk….someone who cares about our problems, our jobs, our kids education and college tuition, and who will work for a clean environment and clean industries. Whoever wins this governor’s race had better be prepared to work their butts off, because they will only get one term to do it….and then as Iacocca say’s, we’ll just through all the bums out! We need a governor who will do the right thing for the Right Reasons….not worry about politically outdated philosophies or power grabbing, greedy nutzy organizations. It’s time we had some honest to goodness LEADERSHIP in Lansing….and thanks to term limits, sold to the voters for purely political reasons at the time…we’re now stuck with a system that is completely messed up with people in office who don’t have a clue as to how it’s all supposed to work, and care only about their next job!
Whoever wins in November will be held accountable…..Michigan deserves that much, and so do the Voters!
5 Susan Grimes Width // Aug 6, 2010 at 9:07 am
The Rick Snyder victory shows that the electorate is paying attention and fulfilling their responsibility to vote for the person who seems to have good ideas and sensible solutions. . . not political rhetoric. Hooray!
6 Dick McKnight // Aug 6, 2010 at 10:05 am
Right to life deserved the drubbing it got in this primary. Just my opinion, but for a group that claims they are on the side of the angels, they are hardbitten cynics when it comes to endorsements. Strangely, the Democrats also got hung up on right to life issues. I got three robo calls at home: One with Andy Dillon claiming not to be too right to life, one with Gilda Jacobs defending Dillon on that score, and one with an anonymous female voice decrying Dillon’s right to life connections and boosting Bernero. As if. Did anybody notice we are in a near permanent recession? Meanwhile Snyder waltzed with a lot of Dem votes.
7 Jim Brazier // Aug 6, 2010 at 11:32 am
Jack, your analysis supported your premise that the least likely candidate won in each primary. It did little to explain the actual outcomes.
Snyder ran an outsider campaign and followed a strategy of remaining above the fray of the internecine combat that typified Republican primary politics. He promised to offer solutions that have not been tried in the past and then reinforced this message by depicting himself as the nerd who has been a business success, this appealed to the element that supported Perot and those who feel these best candidate would be someone who is not in the box of being a career politician.
Bernero went with the pitch that was most inspiring to Democratic party activists, the pose of righteous anger with the status quo and conservative dominance in talk-show media. Such a position appealed to the Democratic base.
Dillon could not appeal to Democrats since he had alienated the base with his issue positions that appear to aim more towards winning Independent and Republican votes. His leadership resume suffered for the the 2009 state budget mess when he was unable to broker a deal with Senate Republicans. The result was success for the Senate Republican agenda in the state budget deal. This revealed extreme leadership weakness in negotiating in a dvided, partisan government. Dillon, therefore, could not inspire support for his gubernatorial candidacy.
Both Bernero and Snyder read the future electoral situation better than their opponents with campaigns that targeted the electorate far more accurately.
8 Bill Kalmar // Aug 9, 2010 at 5:41 am
Friday morning’s so-called Democratic Unity Breakfast was supposed to be a sit down meal with a set menu but somehow it ended up being a smorgasbord with each participant choosing a different morsel for everyone to digest. Former gubernatorial candidate Andy Dillon introduced party nominee for Governor Virg Bernero and then stunned the crowd by announcing he was not prepared to endorse him at this juncture. Similarly Detroit Mayor Dave Bing had his own reservations and delayed his commitment indicating he needed “to get to know him and understand his agenda”. After the attendees tried to digest these concerns from two stalwarts of the party, nominee Bernero offered his assessment of the Unity Breakfast stating: “I think it’s all going to work out very well. I see a unified party here. I’m delighted with the support I see here. We are a unified party. We share the same values”. Huh? Was Bernero at the same breakfast with Bing and Dillon? They might have been in the same room but obviously Bernero’s breakfast menu was missing a couple of main entrees, namely Bing and Dillon!
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