Michigan Politics

You don't have to read every back-woods paper every day to notice Dick DeVos. He's everywhere, touring many of the less populated parts of the state spreading one message, "Jennifer Granholm doesn't understand how to make jobs." He has a clever strategy. This far from the election, nobody cares how negative his tactics are, they're just listening to some guy complain about the economy. The method he uses shouldn't surprise anybody, grassroots are how pyramid schemes like Amway work. Instead of sitting around for another couple months and waiting for the election to start, he hits the road now, convincing people that Granholm sucks and they need somebody new. A couple of months from now, a candidate will emerge (who could it be?) equipped with a platform.

This puts the governor is an interesting spot. She can't really drive up the negatives of an unknown without introducing him to the state. The question becomes, how can she hold onto her approvals? In this pre-campaign timeframe, her hands are tied and attacks must be made through others, like Mark Brewer (see this). There aren't many things she can do to defend herself against this fellow. Here's what I've come up with:

1) Tour the state and tell people how good she is and how great things are (not a good idea)

2) Do things to improve the economy (a good idea, not so plausible with the legislature, congress, federal administration, supreme court and state supreme court being what they are)

3) Do things to make it look like you're trying to improving the economy (good idea, hands down)

4) Blame the legislature for your problems (a wash -- it will help dem legislative candidates, but if voters are convinced the problem with the state is divided government, they'll elect a republican governor.)

5) The perfect combination I will outline below.

Right now, Granholm is trying to pass things to kick the economy into gear. The legislature won't have it though and she is blaming them for the problems. The question is, how to get to 1 and 2? Why not tour the state campaigning not for herself (but really for herself), but for dem legislative candidates, claiming that if there is a dem majority in the legislature, things will start getting done; the economy will start getting better. She can outline all the things she is pushing, all the ways that the legislature is ruining the state. She can tell people to call the their reps and senators and maybe she'll be able to push things through. This is how she can really, really blame the legislature while touring the state and getting all that free press DeVos has been sucking up recently and maybe even force the legislature into cooperating with her.