It will not be listed this way on your ballot on Tuesday, but there
are two GOP races for governor going on: One involving Mr. Cox,
Hoekstra, Bouchard and George and the other features Mr. Snyder.
Say what?
In case you missed it, Rick Snyder is not the darling of the
conservative base of the state GOP. Oh sure, he will pick up some of
them, but the other four guys are way more conservative than the
semi-moderate business guy from A2.
He is saying in public that he wants independent and democrats to
cross over and support him. That is his primary.
That's why Snyder in recent days has let his little secret out of the
bag. He is adored by former moderate Gov. Bill Milliken and former GOP
moderate candidate for governor John Schwarz.
Snyder also supported the embryonic stem cell research ballot
proposal which is an anathema to the other four GOP contenders not to
mention Michigan Right to Life.
When asked for his position on abortion Snyder says he is
"pro-life." Think about it, who isn't pro-life per se? Does Snyder's
statement mean he is anti-abortion or a closet pro-choicer?
It's those kinds of doubts that slice into his hopes of winning the
majority of conservative GOP voters.
In fact let's be real blunt here. If this was a two horse race
between Mr. Snyder and pick one guy from the quartet that is running,
this contest would be over. Just like it was over when the
aforementioned Mr. Schwarz challenged Dick Posthumus for the GOP gov's
nomination in 2002 and lost by a country mile.
The only reason Snyder is competitive and could actually win it, is
that there are four other guys who will divide up the 57% of the
conservative vote while Snyder hopes to nail most of the 38% still left
in the party who are moderate or lean that way.
Can you do the math to get there?
Yep.
But just remember that the last time a moderate GOP candidate for
governor won the party nomination in Michigan it was 1978…over 8,000
days ago.