Unimaginable Tip Was Right

by Tim Skubick
January 8, 2010

The last time John Cherry was interviewed was just before the holidays. He had just released his campaign manager, and other reports had him realigning his fundraising team. In a smart move, the campaign made him available to appear on camera to debunk the notion that his campaign was in deep do-do.

Turns out the do was deeper than he revealed.

The affable lieutenant governor stated, “My campaign is stronger than ever,” and he dismissed the changes in his campaign as the normal ebb and flow of constructing a winning team for next year. He then revealed that he was finally going to get some time off over the holidays and would try to take some excess poundage off as well.

Fast forward to four days into the new year, and the phone rings at 9:30 p.m.

“Sorry to call you so late, but you might want to check this out,” the voice on the other end of the line suggested. “Cherry is going to drop out of the race for governor.”

Say what?

Cherry was the media-anointed front-runner in the Democratic primary and, sure, he had some problems, but dropping out? Nobody had ever imagined such a thing this early into the 2010 election year.

Logic suggested this was some far-fetched wishful thinking on behalf of those who wanted Cherry out of the contest…yet it had to be checked out.

The usually talkative and jovial mouthpiece for the Cherry campaign was neither. Chris DeWitt was not answering his cell or home phone. Others connected to Cherry dove for the high grass, too.

Long story short, it was eventually nailed down that Cherry was poised to do just what the tipster had suggested: drop out.

Money was a problem. The balance sheet was not a pretty sight, one source conceded. Those who should have opened their checkbooks to the heir-apparent in the Granholm administration were keeping them tightly shut.

And akin to that, Cherry, the supposed candidate of labor, could not nail down the UAW endorsement when he needed it most — which sent the wrong signal to other would-be backers who sat on their hands and cans.

Image was a problem. For weeks the buzz was Cherry can’t win.

It would go like this: he is probably one of the best qualified to be governor with his wealth of time in the legislative trenches, including eight years as second in command, but… He is well liked by both political parties, both personally and professionally, as he knows how to cut a legislative deal and can be trusted to keep his word, but… He could be governor without the need for on-the-job training, but…

For months that unelectability story line had been shopped behind the scenes by those supporting House Speaker Andy Dillon for the Democratic nomination. Then out of nowhere came the mayor of Lansing, who said it out loud for everyone to hear.

“Everywhere I go, Democrats tell me Cherry is in trouble,” reported Virg Bernero, who quickly formed his own exploratory committee to consider a bid for the nomination.

The Cherry-Granholm linkage-baggage problem was already being exploited by the Republican candidates for governor and by virtually everyone else with an “R” after his/her name.

Long-time Democratic Party honcho Joel Ferguson nailed it when he advised that the longer the “lie” of “Cherry can’t win” was spoken, the more likely it was to become the truth.

Turns out he was right. With Cherry out of the race, indeed, he can’t win.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s Senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972. He also covers the Capitol and politics for WLNS-TV6 in Lansing.

Tim Skubick Extra Extra… (A weekly bonus only for Dome readers)

Joe D. for Governor?
Now that the candidate with the most political experience is out of the contest, some forces within the Michigan Democratic party are looking for a candidate with none. In effect, this faction is looking for its own version of GOP candidate Rick Snyder, the non-politician/business guy out of Ann Arbor.

The 180-degree flip from tons of experience to zero could produce a want ad that reads like this:

Wanted: Someone with no hands-on experience in Lansing and no visible or invisible ties to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. (Very important.) Resume with successful business accomplishments is essential, along with the ability to self-fund or bring own money to the table. Must have good name ID and a positive image that indicates you are a Lansing outsider but possess the intelligence to learn the ropes at the Capitol once elected.

Potential candidates House Speaker Andy Dillon and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero could not answer the want ad above for obvious reasons. Even though he has been in the Michigan House only four years, Dillon is an insider. Even though Bernero is not there anymore, it would not take long for the GOP to tee him up as a product of government, with his county, state and now local experience as mayor.

So if not them, who?

Try this on for size: Joe Dumars. Yep, the former NBA basketball sensation and current president of the Detroit Pistons.

Stack him up against the want ad and you have a potential blockbuster of a candidate who would not only set this town on its ear but also produce enough buzz to give the Ds a better-than-even chance to hang onto the governor’s chair.

While some Democrats are sad that Lt. Gov. John Cherry has been relegated to the sidelines, pulling a Joe Dumar-type candidate out of the hat could quickly turn those tears into smiles and maybe even enough votes to send Rick Snyder and the rest of the GOP field to the showers.

Feelers are out there to see if Joe D. wants to try his shooting hands in another non-contact sport, namely politics.

Joe D. Part 2
It is such a simple phrase. But in politics, “no comment” is not always as simple as it looks. In fact, it can get quite complex, as you try to ascertain the true motivation for trotting out that old standby when somebody wants nothing to do with the media.

Case in point is that when the Joe D. story above reached the Piston’s president, waiting to see his team lose another one down in Texas, it produced an unexpected response.

Frankly, the popular wisdom was that once Dumars got wind of all this political stuff he would promptly laugh it off, declare it out of bounds, end of story.

But there was no rebuke, no laughter, no nothin’ except that curious “no comment.”

While it is risky business to read too much into anything, wouldn’t you agree that if there were nothing to this he would have said so. The fact that he did not will be interpreted this way: he indeed is thinking about it.

Maybe it is the ego stroke that motivates him to think about it, but whatever the rationale, he did not say no, which some will say means he could eventually give a yes.

Many believe that Dumars does not have any political passion. Well, turns out that when white supremacist David Duke was making anti-civil-rights noises down south years ago, Mr. Dumars went there to protest.

To be sure, it is a quantum leap from civil rights demonstrator to governor of Michigan. But in politics, anything can happen…just ask John Cherry.

Who’s Calling the Shots?
Here we go again. The Senate GOP leader has problems with the nose of the state GOP chair.

Three years ago when then-state Republican chair Saul Anuzis stuck his big nose into the delicate budget debate that included a hefty tax hike, GOP leader Mike Bishop complained there was no role for the party chair in this legislative matter.

The Oakland County Republican, in effect, lectured Big Saul to stick to politics while Bishop would do the heavy legislative lifting.

Fast forward to the new year, with a new state GOP chair and Bishop forced to confront the same old problem all over again.

Turns out that the new chairman, Ron Weiser, has attached his name to a grandiose scheme, hatched by a new business group, on how to reform state government in five easy steps.

Democrats are using that Weiser endorsement to urge Bishop to hop on board. But Bishop is not on board, and he’s bashful about going to the station to even look at the train.

Weiser notes that he has not endorsed the whole package put forth by the Business Leaders for Michigan, which is a morphed reincarnation of the old Detroit Renaissance group. But he says some of the concepts are worth doing.

Through his mouthpiece, Bishop basically tells Weiser what he told Anuzis: stay out of my business. Warm letter to follow.

All of this is slowly reaching critical mass, as the governor has hooked up with the BLFM folks and is eager to forge a “Grand Bargain” in which everyone gives a little to get a little, as she puts it.

Her “little” to get is new revenue, which Bishop is loath to support. And the specter of having the GOP chair on Granholm’s side, even though Weiser has not embraced new money, is a PR problem for Mr. Bishop that forces him to explain why he and Weiser are not on the same page…again.