Say what you will about the Rick Michigan campaign, either these guys are pasa-tootly geniuses or absolutely clueless on how to elect this guy governor.

     For the second time this election season the Snyder crew has broken the mold. It is doing  just the opposite of what the political manual suggests.

    Last June they trotted out the Ann Arbor, tie-less business guy, who had no name recognition, and they introduced him with the sign Rick for Michigan.  Only the preposition was so tiny that it looked like Rick Snyder's name was really Rick Michigan. 

    The primer on building name identification with the voters suggests you use THE GUY'S RIGHT NAME.

     It was such an obvious miscue, as noted in this space, that it defied explanation.  But turns out the Snyder crew made no mistake; they did it on purpose.  (Maybe he will change his legal name to Rick Michigan later on in the campaign.)

    That was last June and now the Snyder boys are at it again as they once more defy political logic, cast caution to the wind and go on the tube with an introductory commercial in which the candidate says, "It's time for a nerd" to be governor and Snyder is just the nerd to do it.  

    What were these guys smoking?

    And when challenged that perhaps having a nerdy governor was not high on the want list of Michigan voters, the campaign called it a condescending assertion. 

    This is Michigan; a shot and a beer, sports loving, anti-elitist mass of men and women, very few of which aspire to be a nerd or have one as a friend, let alone governor.   

     Pollster Bernie Porn, who knows a nerd when he sees one, suggests it's the wrong label to use on a guy whom nobody knows and may not want to know since he is, after all, not one of us.

     The campaign confidently explains this was an attempt at self-deprecation or did they mean self-desecration?

     But maybe these hot shots know something the rest of Michigan does not know. After all Snyder hails from Ann Arbor. Nuf said.

     By defying conventional wisdom, the candidate has set into motion one of the most historic campaigns in modern history.  If Rick Michigan, the nerd, gets elected governor he can gloriously says, "Told ya so!"

     If he doesn't, however, he should ask for his money back from his supposed inner circle of politcial wise guys who sold him down the river.