Unless we put all the witnesses under oath on this one, we may never get to the other reasons behind the out-of-nowhere decision by Grethen Whitmer to suddenly drop out of the democratic contest for Attorney General.

    The East Lansing state senator, with the help of her daddy Dick Whitmer who use to run Michigan Blue Cross, was rollin' along singin' a song on her way to the party nomination this summer.

    She was making the rounds, had a good resume, was the presumed front runner and then also out-of-nowhere came the announcement that Richard Bernstein, son of Sam, was running too.

    Talk about putting a stick in your spokes.

    Whitmer was taken back by the declaration but the pundits in town let her keep the front runner status until she herself removed it.

    "I'm not running for Attorney General," she quietly told a stunned senate democratic caucus behind closed doors.  Then she issued a statement and did a TV interview noting that she had two daughters at home, ages six and seven, who needed her attention more than Whitmer needed to be A.G.  There is no question that was the major factor in her wrenching decision, but others are still scratching their heads as to what else might have been in play.

    Could you make the case that the trial lawyers and father Sam Bernstein let it be known that Richard was going to be bank rolled for the nomination thus saving the state Democratic Party a bundle of money?  And as a corollary, if Richard did not get the nod, father and his trial lawyer buddies might close their checkbooks for other races this year?

    Since the party is not exactly flush with bucks and has more important races to underwrite, namely governor, supreme court and the Michigan House, why not give the nomination to Mr. Bernstein and company?

    Mind you, all this is mere conjecture.  Whitmer was asked on camera about the Bernstein advantage and she stuck to her story about wanting to be with the kids and minus any evidence or sworn testimony to the contrary, one has to conclude that was the only reason.

    The only sticking point is, didn't she know she had two kids when she announced her A.G. intentions in the first place?