Snyder Provides Democrats Opportunity, Dilemma
The election in yesterdays primary of Rick Snyder as the Republican candidate for Michigan’s Governor provides his democratic counterpart, Virg Bernero a wide open avenue of attack that the Lansing Mayor is sure to pursue.
Bernero’s campaign for the democratic nomination was based in classic democratic terms of the little guy versus the rich, elitist, Republican machine. Couched in the Wall Street against Main Street rhetoric Democrats have perfected since the financial meltdown in the fall of 2008, Bernero has claimed that large Wall Street lending instructions have starved Michigan of much needed capital and participated in the downfall of what was once the wealthiest state in the nation. Snyder’s past as a venture capitalist plays directly into this position.
This strategy does not come without potential costs however. Michigan has been suffering from recession for years now, much longer than the rest of the country, and the states problems predate the financial crisis. Rampant capitalism, whatever its role in the current national recession, has had little nor nothing to do with the collapse of Michigan’s economy, and most voters are aware of that. In yesterdays election voters turned out at a ratio of 2 to 1 in favor of Republican candidates, and the fact that they selected Snyder over other strong conservative candidates suggests that they are in search of what he offers; knowledge of the private sector, and experience in running a company.
If the Bernero campaign chooses to make this a battle over free markets versus the little guy they run the risk of isolating independents and more moderate democrats who recognize the failures of Lansing to encourage economic stability and growth. It is significant that the republican candidate is a first time office seeker. There is a feeling among many voters that politicians have gotten us into this mess, and perhaps it is time to try something different. Bernero is a consummate political operative, and if he is not careful, he will make himself representative of everything Michigan voters rejected yesterday.
I’ll be delighted to vote for Snyder in November.
I’ll be honest, I was completely blindsided by his victory. Apparently i was following the wrong outlets. But i like what he has to say, and there just is no choosing between him and Bernero, who was advocating the creation of a state bank on the radio the other day
Snyder sounds like a level headed, business like person with a rational plan. Bernero sounds like a bombastic preacher with a lot of rhetoric with no logic, just an agenda that creates irrqational slurs about his opponent and more expensive, inefficent control of business and utimately our private lives.