Governor race updates, Mackinac Conference

Mike Bouchard named Terri Land as running mate. WDIV reporting. That's not a real surprise since Land decided last July she was not running and endorsed Bouchard almost immediately. Does it effect the race? Maybe to a small extent. This is from the David Bonior playbook back in 2002. Alma Wheeler Smith was running, dropped out, and ran with Bonior. Bonior finished 2nd to the then so called "rock star" candidate Matt Millen, I mean Jennifer Granholm. Bouchard's biggest weakness is his 2006 performance against Stabenow. He's a good guy and it wasn't all his fault, but numbers don't lie. I'd like to see Bouchard run against Gary Peters. I think he can win that race. I have doubts whether he would win the governor's race. My reponse to the Bouchard for Governor campaign? Bouchard for Congress!

On another note there was a dustup about the invitation (or not) of Tom George to a gubenatorial debate. From Crain's Detroit Business.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, is back in the debate.

After hearing from the chair of the Michigan Republican Party and some other candidates, the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance has reconsidered its decision to cut George from a Republican gubernatorial candidate debate at the Sept. 26 Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island.
(snip)
Earlier in the week, George said that the MTA rescinded their invitation for him to participate and cited the reason that WJR AM 760 is only able to air the debate for one hour and Drolet and the MTA’s board felt that they should limit who can participate in the debate.

On Wednesday, Drolet said the Republican Party is responsible for negotiating with radio stations for coverage and he would have welcomed more time that would have enabled George’s initial inclusion.

He said that when the alliance learned it only had an hour of air time, the board initially felt it needed to limit the debate to “the perceived top four candidates running statewide campaigns.”

My view. Let him in. Anyone on the ballot or with a committee on the GOP side should be in. I'm not voting for Tom George (I'm not against him like I am against Snyder), but he's as much a candidate as anyone else in the race. It's not like little known state senators have never won the governorship. Ask John Engler in 1990.

The Mackinac Conference is coming up. This is the big GOP event in Michigan every two years. Presidential wannabes usually show up, but the big thing right now are the state level races. Governor. Attorney General (undecided) and Secretary of State (also undecided). There's a lot of inside baseball going on right now. I'll be posting a report after the conference or during if I get access.