GOP Chair Calls Granholm Most Vulnerable Governor in USA
By George Weeks

Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman, who made a three-day, seven-city Michigan visit last week, says, "There is no governor of either party in America who is more vulnerable" than Governor Jennifer Granholm.

That contention was echoed by Matthew Dowd, a key strategist for President George W. Bush's two successful campaigns and now a strategist for Granholm challenger Dick DeVos.

Dowd, top strategist for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign, said DeVos has "risen farther and faster" than any 2006 gubernatorial candidate.

Dowd, who was born in Detroit and went to high school in Bloomfield Hills, branded as "too simplistic" the assertion here and elsewhere that DeVos has vaulted to a virtual tie with Granholm in polls because of his $6 million TV ad blitz.

He said the "oxygen" in Michigan is "completely consumed" by concern about the economy and jobs - as evidenced by the high number of voters who tell pollsters Michigan is on the "wrong track."

Mehlman and Dowd called me on cell phones between their fundraisers and pep talks with downstate GOP activists.

Not surprisingly, Democratic State Chairman Mark Brewer, reached as he drove to a scheduled Saturday meeting with Benzie County Democrats in Honor, disputed what the visiting GOP gunslingers had to say about Granholm's vulnerability. He cited such vulnerable GOP governors as Schwarzenegger and Robert Ehrlich, Maryland's first Republican governor in more than 30 years.

The seat of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow is among seven that are held by Democrats and considered vulnerable to Republican challengers. But several recent polls show Senator Stabenow with substantial leads.

In its second June poll on the Senate race, Lansing-based EPIC/MRA's June 13-20 survey of 600 likely voters (error margin plus/minus 4 percentage points) gave Stabenow a 54-32 lead over Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. A comparable survey completed June 9 by the same firm had it 48-34 for Stabenow.

(In the smaller sub samples that have a larger margin of error, Stabenow had a 51-5 lead in the northern Lower Peninsula in the latest poll, and 58-42 in the Upper Peninsula).

EPIC/MRA's Ed Sarpolus said he has been matching Stabenow solely against Bouchard because "we think it is Bouchard all the way." But the GOP's Mehlman said he sees "absolutely a competitive" primary race between Bouchard and the Reverend Keith Butler, a former Detroit councilman who is among African-Americans that Mehlman had encouraged to run in several states.

Former Republican State Chairman Dave Doyle, now a political consultant whose clients include Butler, said there are recent independent polls that have Butler and Bouchard in a "virtual tie" in the primary race.

Northern Trails

Candidates for statewide office do their heaviest campaigning in downstate population centers. But there are three Up North annual events that draw them in droves - the Detroit Regional Chamber's conference on Mackinac Island, the Upper Peninsula State Fair in Escanaba, and the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, now underway.

Senator Carl Levin has his own festival tradition, throwing a red tie to the crowd gathered along the final parade as it turns from Front Street to Union Street. Levin is not on the ballot this year but these scheduled participants in Saturday's Cherry Royale Parade are: Granholm, Stabenow, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, and Attorney General Mike Cox, along with assorted lawmakers.

As mere hopefuls for statewide office, DeVos, Bouchard, and Butler aren't allowed in the parade. But they'll work the sidewalks, and join Republican State Chairman Saul Anuzis at a pre-parade breakfast with party activists and local candidates.

Brewer and the Democratic officeholders will have their own pre-parade rally and showcase the party's challengers for legislative and congressional offices now held by Republicans.

George Weeks recently retired after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.