If you make this bet, make sure you make it with a person who is
completely naïve when it comes to Michigan politics and given the
general awareness of the citizenry these days, that person won't be
hard to find.
Offer them this: You predict that whomever wins the democratic
nomination for governor, that person will pick an African-American for
his or her running mate.
This is such a sure bet you can even give them 100 to one odds if
it strikes your fancy. (However, as they say, all bets are off if Rep.
Alma Wheeler Smith somehow nails the nomination. She is
African-American.)
All this was set into motion last weekend when state democrats
decided for the first time to select nominees for Secretary of State
and State Attorney General.
Heretofore those office selections were made after the nominee for
governor was selected which gave that person the chance to shape the
ticket in his or her own liking. And one of the major factors in
rounding out the ticket was picking a person or persons of color for
the ticket.
Nowhere is that written in stone, but if you've followed Michigan
Democratic politics for any length of time, you know that's just the
way it is and history is replete with candidates who got on the ticket
not necessarily because they were the best qualified.
But those days of gender and racial balancing are looooong gone as
ole Ernie is fond of saying. Now whomever the governor nominee is, that
person will have Jocelyn Benson for SOS and David Leyton for A.G.
Since both of them are Caucasian, this is why the bet you will offer
is such a sure fire winner i.e. there will be a Black running mate on
the ticket.
And in segments of the party that private discussion has already
began. You can bet on that, too.