Virg Bernero is a lot of things: angry, unflappable, but certainly
never at a loss for words.
Until that one question: Were you ever in the race for governor?
Sure it was an off the wall question but grounded in fact
nonetheless.
After all the Democratic candidate for governor never closed the gap
between himself and the eventual and almost pre-ordained winner Rick
Snyder.
Bernero started twenty points behind and finished about twenty
points behind.
Were you ever in the race for governor?
He was out spent five to one, didn't have the cash to respond when
those fish bowl ads flooded the airwaves, and he never laid a glove on
his opponent which forced the challenger to shadow box Snyder from the
opening bell.
So, were yuou ever in the race for governor?
"Ah, I don't know that, in the sense that did I really have a
chance when you look at the numbers? I don't know," but then he
finally concludes, "To me I was."
Right. Even when the facts are smacking you right in the mug,
most candidates look around the facts and somehow convince themselves
that they are in the hunt and still have a chance, even though the
candidate may be a minority of one.
In Bernero's case, he was in the minority of four. His wife and
kids were always there.
In fact that's the thing that touched him the most.
"At times when I was exhausted and didn't want to get out of bed,
my wife kicked me out of bed and just stuck with me," he reveals. And
likewise with his two daughters who stood by him to the bitter end.
It was a long haul that started when the four of them put up the
Christmas tree just after Thanksgiving a year ago. Bernero says
everyone had to be in, otherwise it would not work.
Well, it never really worked, but Bernero is still engaged,
hasn't lost his edge and may even take another shot at it to see if he
could be in it next time.