On the road to the state house, GOP candidate for governor Pete
Hoekstra has had a conversion. Two weeks ago one of his handlers boldly
suggested that fellow candidate Mike Cox had some "skeletons" in his
closet having to do with the never proven party at the home of former
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick a.k.a. 702408.
The comment caught everyone's attention including Hoekstra who
apparently did not sign off before the fact.
Now the West Michigan Congressman asserts that just because Cox has
unloaded a batch of negative ads against him, he will turn the other
cheek.
"We've told the staff we'll run our campaign above board. We're not
going to get into a tar fight," he now says.
Hoekstra concedes that the Cox ads will impact the Congressman's
front-runner status. "We'll take a short term hit," he concedes but
underscores that he won't go negative to gain it back.
"I'm not going to sell my soul to become governor of this state and
have to live with being held accountable for running a mean-spirited
campaign. That's not who I am," he asserts with a voice that is
losing its strength after weeks of campaigning.
Asked if he was referring to Mr. Cox, and obviously he was, he
retorts, "I'm not talking about anybody."
He also had some choice words for fellow GOP contender Rick Snyder.
The latter is running an ad calling Hoesktra a good man while at
the same time questioning his congressional spending habits just like
Cox has been doing.
It was a "back-handed compliment' Hoekstra observes and a
"back-handed slap" all in the same commercial.
Nonetheless as he stays on the high road, he says, "I don't care
where other campaigns go."
Oh yeah, he did agree with Snyder that he, Hoekstra is a nice guy.
But you know what can happen to nice guy sometimes..