Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm had zero experience in Lansing when she decided to run for governor. So she picked a running mate who did. 

    Gov. Rick Snyder did the same thing when he tapped Rep. Brain Calley for his running mate and there the parallell between the two governors and their second in command ends.

    Ms. Granholm's selection of veteran Lansing insider John Cherry was a grand move.  He knew everyone.  She knew no one.  He knew how to make a legislative deal.  She was better in a room by herself with a pen.

    But somehow it sorta just didn't totally work out.  Cherry was used by her and in the best sense of the word, but it never reached the level of the current dynamic duo.

    The theme song for Gov. Snyder and L.G. Calley should be "Wherever you go, whatever you do, we're gonna go through it together."

     Gov. Granholm could not sing that tune and popular wisdom in town was Mr. Cherry was under utilized because there was only room on the stage for one star and he was not it.

     Gov. Snyder, in strong contrast, is fond of saying. "This is not about me.  It's about we" and that certainly includes Mr. Calley who has turned out to be the point man on every major item on the governor's reinvention agenda.

     Pension tax?  Calley worked it.

     Budget?  Calley worked it.

     Bridge?  Calley is working it but not getting very far.

     But the point is, Mr. Snyder has surrounded himself with a better team than the previous governor who went through Chiefs of Staff like a knife through butter and Calley does not have to claw his way into the inner circle.  He is the inner circle.

     Wonder if Mr. Cherry ever ponders what might have been, had he worked for the Nerd instead of the Rock Star?