In every election there is the winner and the loser. No duh. But
when it comes to the two major political parties there were other
winners and losers.
On the Republican side there were two dead bodies: Michigan Right
to Life and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
On the Democratic side, and breathing a huge sight of relief, were
organized labor, pro-choice groups, gay and lesbian factions and the
Greens all shouting for joy.
First the body count in the GOP.
In an ill-conceived strategy to play king-maker, the chamber and
RTL picked one guy from the GOP field and "anointed him." Mike Cox got
the endorsement of both powerful groups and he played if for all it was
worth which turned out to be worth third place in a five person race.
The chamber knew Mr. Cox had some baggage which need not be
reviewed here for the umpteenth time. Think "party."
But one insider concluded, we did not want to deny a guy the
endorsement based on a story that was no proven. While a noble
gesture, it defied convention wisdom: Cox might lose because of it.
The politically correct option for Right to Life was to endorse
Pete Hoekstra, Mike Bouchard, Tom George and Cox. But yet it appears
the temptation to play Big Shot trumped common sense and RTL, the
organization, sits here today no longer the 800 pound gorilla but a
mere shadow of its former self.
There is even chatter that Barb Listing the RTL President for Life,
may not have much of life left after this debacle.
Such is not the case on the D side where labor did what it had to
do. The boo-birds were ready to declare unions dead as a political
force if they had failed to put up for Virg Berner. He won going away
from Andy Dillon whose campaign got off to a rough start and got even
worse.
So the sub-text of the primary election beyond the candidates who
were winners and losers is: Democratic special interests-1 and the
Republican special interests-Goose Egg.