Mike Bouchard for L.G. Why not. He's run for everything else so
why not lt. governor with the Rick-ster.
For a time on Tuesday, the Bouchard as running mate for Rick Snyder
sucked up a ton of oxygen in this town.
"He's in the mix," was the word from two reliable GOP sources.
Prior to the August primary, it was known that the Ann Arbor
business guy was looking for a current or former legislator to balance
out the ticket. One guy with zilch experience at the top and someone
with a bunch in the governor-in-waiting slot.
Bouchard brought that experience to the table. He served in the
house, served as GOP floor leader in the senate and amassed a fairly
impressive record.
But as the name Bouchard buzzed around the capitol on Tuesday,
part of the buzz was, he had to be convinced to take it.
Put another way, he didn't want the job and had to be "worked" on
by Snyder supporters to say yes.
One would have to ask why give up a nice job as the top cop in the
state's most affluent county, take a pay cut, be second in command and
not first, give up the chopper, armored car and a plethora of
underlings all snapping to attention when you pass by?
And then there was the daily grind of driving to Lansing three
days a week or more just to ride herd on the Michigan Senate. The job
is a glorified traffic cop, which Bouchard knew how to do.
If you added up the pluses and minus, you can readily see why he
might need to be convinced this was a good career move.
Apparently Bouchard ran the same calculus and came up with zero.
Late Wednesday night he issued a terse one paragraph statement
which amounted to, thanks but no thanks.
With Bouchard out, Snyder turned to Brian Calley for his running
mate.
Brian who?
Nobody would have said Mike who, had the sheriff said yes.