David Broder writes that the poor economy in Michigan gives the GOP a ray of hope. Dick DeVos and Governor Jennifer Granholm are in a very close race, largely due to the Amway fortune DeVos has spent on advertising. Granholm is now striking back:
Granholm, for her part, accuses DeVos of running a stealth campaign. “He’s spent millions on television,” she told me recently, “and people still don’t know what party he belongs to or what business he ran.” Now that the final legislative session of her term has ended, Granholm, who has hoarded her more limited campaign funds, will begin to tell people in TV ads what she wants them to know about DeVos.
She will tell them that he is a Republican, linked to President Bush, who is no more popular here than elsewhere in the Midwest. And he ran Alticor, the firm formerly known as Amway, and she will say that it outsourced jobs to China — the very thing that has hurt Michigan’s economy.
Stopping DeVos is important even for those who do not live in Michigan. DeVos. While DeVos is concentrating his ads on the economy, he also supports a far right social agenda, including increasing the role of religion in government. He purchased the devosforpresident.com domain name in December, 2004 suggesting a goal of using the Michigan Governor’s office as a stepping stone to the Presidency. Supporting Granholm is important to stop Dick DeVos now.
I read Border’s op-ed yesterday and thought he overstated DeVos’ chances and could have presented some of Dick’s highlights as an extreme friend of Bush who as Bill Clinton mentioned last week, wants to bring the Bush-Cheney government to MI. For those who haven’t seen the highlights of the Clinton even last week , here they are.
Speaking of DeVos highlights, I just read this article about how he crashed the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival even after the event ogranizers told him that he couldn’t campaign at the there. Here is the article, it’s worth a read.
I agree with you Ron that eveyone, non-Michigander included need to support Governor Granholm as she is assaulted with the lies and baseless blame for the state of the MI economy that is the fault of Governor Engler and the Bush administration.
Sorry about that, I obviously had some problems with my coding. here is the Grand Haven Tribune link,
http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/286803621524310.bsp
I had a post on the Coast Gurad Parade and the Tribune editorial last week.
Reportedly he walked the parade route after being denied permission to be in the parade. I saw many people passing out DeVos stickers but didn’t actually see him. Of course since it was before the parade actually started I and I wasn’t watching for him I might have missed him. Perhaps he came by while I was on a water run–it was a hot day. Or perhaps he saw the No-W badge on my camera bag and stayed away.
Ron, I guess I obviously missed your post on the parade, busy morning yesterday. Good point, your badge may have kept him away. What did the DeVos supporter say when you asked for a Granholm sticker? I would have liked to see that.
I also read that Karl Rove, Ken Mehlmen and Mitt Romeny will be in MI this week to campaign for Bouchard. Any chance they make an appearance for DeVos since he never mentions his party affiliation in any of his ads? Have you heard anything about wether they will campaign for Dick?
I also read your previous posts on DeVos, the Amquix.info issue is asinine and as for the polls, I truly believe that the Rassmusen and Detroit News polls are the start of an upswing for Governor Granholm.
Brad,
I haven’t paid any attention to DeVos’s campaign schedule so I don’t know if he’ll be seen with the Republicans you mention. I have seen Mehlmen quoted in the past backing DeVos but who a newspaper quotes and who a canddiate wants to be seen with are two different things.
It makes sense to distance himself from the GOP, but I don’t think this will work. A moderate might get away with it, but ultimately DeVos’s far right wing positions will start to peg him as being in their camp.