Ouch.  It hurts when you get a story wrong and how wrong could one be when one reports on TV and in print that Terri Lynn Land is running for governor.

    Turns out, she is not. 

     Land may not have been a very good candidate for governor, but she was a smart politician. She figured  she was not going to get the GOP nomination a year from August. 

     First she was from West Michigan and the GOP already had a stronger candidate in the form of Congressman Pete Hoekstra.  Land correctly concluded she could not compete with Pete.

     Second was the money.  Land had access to some family wealth accumulated over the years in the real estate biz.  But rather than dip into the family treasure chest during bad economic times, Land dropped out.

     Third, she was not gaining any traction on the campaign trail.  After a lousy speech at a state GOP convention last winter, Land followed it up with a less than sterling performance during a GOP debate on Mackinac Island last May.

     What she did do was endorse Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard for governor. But that endorsement was more about whacking Attorney General Mike Cox. He and Land have not exactly been best buds during their overlapping tenures in state government and she confirmed that by blessing Mikey the sheriff and not Mikey the A.G.

     The endorsement per se made a nice political story but it doesn't do much for Bouchard.  Sure she can open some doors for Bouchard in West Michigan and maybe some folks will write a check, but do former Land supporters now suddenly bolt to the sheriff because she says they should?

     All in all it was a crafty move by Ms. Land; it produced some "Wow. Did you hear what Land did moments in this town," but on balance it's probably a two day story.  And everyone will speculate that she upped her chances of being his running mate should he win.

     Oh yeah, Land did accomplish one more thing, she obliged a seasoned political reporter to apologize for getting the story wrong.

      Sorry gang.

     

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