Denise.  Where fore arth thou?

  Anybody seen the front runner in the democratice field for governor?  Maybe you have heard of her but geez, nobody has seen Denise Ilitch.

  Wonder way?

  For a moment, it looked like Ms. Ilitch was going to come out of hiding and actually show up at a political event where nosey political correspondents would finally get a chance to toss her some questions.

   The Michigan Education Association staged a cattle call for all the Republican and Democrats to pitch their wares to a room full of very politically active teachers.

   The MEA announced earlier in the week that Ilitch was on the agenda and one of the local papers even printed same.

   When word reached this listening post, a quick phone call was made to TV2 in Detroit.

    "Hey guys we should cover this event in Detroit on Friday night.  Denise Ilitch is going to be there."

     The assistant news director saw the worthiness in that and assigned a crew.

     Roll back the tape to Friday night last. It got to be 5:30 p.m. and other candidates were there fevorishly working the crowd but no Ilitch.

     5:40.  Reporter says to camera persons, "Anybody know what she looks like?  She has long blond hair, and I've seen her picture, but maybe she slipped by."

     At this point the MEA guy walks up.

     "Where's Ilitch?"

     "Somebody called this morning and said she was not coming," was the not so welcomed answer.

     Expletive deleted.

     So into the room the crew goes and there is an Ilitch advisor working with another candidate.

     "Where's Denise?" Jill Alper was asked.

      Alper explains that Ilitch never agreed to attend in the first place.

      Oh really.  (Well then why did somebody call to cancel?)

      Alper explains that if and when Mrs. Ilitch becomes a candidate she will show up at gigs such as this.

      It's not a strange answer but yet it is.

      If you are exploring a bid for the highest office in the state and you are not sure you will run, wouldn't you want to get out in public and deal with the media just to see how it felt or to see if you could survive?

      Apparently that's way too logical for the supposed savvy businesswoman Ms. Ilitch who prefers to instead, hide in the weeds.

      Don't know about you, but if a politician doesn't want to take questions about running for governor, one might conclude, that a certain someone may not be ready for prime time.

      Just a thought.