Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson won't confirm this but take it to the bank, he is not running for governor.  Period.  No second-guessing.  No way.

       It's been a great couple of months for the affable Mr. Patterson who kept everyone and his uncle guessing about what he might do.

       He played it like violinist Itzak Pearlman.

       On the eve of a major fundraiser earlier this year, he deftly trotted out the notion that he might run for governor.  He and the media dutifully listed all of his attributes:  He had business attracting prowess, he was well known, he presided over a county that actually had economic growth surrounded by 82 other counties that did not, and on and on it went.

       It was a great tease, but even from the get-go you could just tell his heart was not in it.  Sure he would love to be governor but he was not in love with earning it.

       Yet he steadfastly refused to kill the speculation.  You could just see him smiling, maybe even laughing with his buds, about how the media loved this story and would not put it down even though, if you thought about it, it was a long shot at best.

       Pressed several weeks ago to either run or get off the pot, Patterson confessed that his attitude was based on "who talked to me last."  Some whispered run; others whisper don't and in the end Patterson listened to the latter and his own heart.

       It is a slog to run all over the state, shaking hands, posing for the cameras and submitting yourself to another round of media scrutiny on your way to t he GOP nomination. And while he would have been anointed the front-runner, that doesn't mean he would have won.

      If former Gov. Jim Brickley was still with us, he could testify to that.  He was the front-runner to replace Gov. Bill Milliken and ended up losing to Dick Headlee.

     The Brookster knows he has a great job, a great family including all those grand kids who adore him. He also knows he'd

 have to leave both to really run for governor.

      He did not want to do that, so he won't.

       

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