It may not have been a wake up call per se, but it was darn close
and must have gotten the attention of all those Virg Bernero for
Governor disciples out there.
It came from Mark Gaffney, president of the 400,000 member state
AFL-CIO. He was blunt.
"If he can't put together $2 million, we'll be in trouble by
election day," he opined on the Off the Record broadcast this weekend.
The take on Bernero for months has been, he has the passion to
run but not the money to win.
Setting the bar at $2 million still leaves the Lansing Mayor
about one million behind the other Democrat in the hunt, House Speaker
Andy Dillon according to Mr. G.
So can the Virg make it?
Gaffney reveals, "He's about half way there and I expect him to
make it."
But if he doesn't and the election was held today, the union boss
concedes Mr. Dillon wins.
And if that happens, don't be shocked to see Gaffney vote for a
Republican although he would never confirm that. But listen to his
dodge when asked if he would support Dillon.
"I don't know the answer to that," he dead panned. The reporters
around the table didn't have to read between the lines.
Bernero is certainly not giving in as he has internal polling
data that suggests lots of Democrats share Gaffney's disdain for the
House Speaker.
In fact the pollster, who does work for a guy named Obama,
confides that once a bio of Mr. Dillon was read to respondents, he has
never seen voters flip so fast.
While that is encouraging, Bernero can't win on that without the
TV ads to boost his name ID.
"He is well known in Lansing," Gaffney observes. But that's one
county down and only 82 more to go with the August 3 finish line
getting closer by by the day.
(Watch the Gaffney performance at WKAR.Org.)