Talk Elections

I just saw this news article: http://www.wlns.com/global/story.asp?s=11768531

John Cherry, the Lt. Governor, is expected to drop out - this is a move that I really didn't see coming, especially since he was the front runner.  Then again, he was polling pretty poorly against the Republican candidates, so this is probably a good move for the Michigan Democratic Party.

Well, he was the front-runner by virtue of being the only major candidate in the race. And even then, his primary numbers were anemic.

I guess he wasn't ready to pop Michigan's Cherry.

Good. I seriously doubt anybody in Michigan would vote for a Granholm crony, anyway.

I just saw something about it on the news, actually. It sort of looks like the party doesn't want him to run because it's unlikely that he'll win, and he's having trouble with fundraising.

edit: http://bit.ly/8M30rX There you go. This leaves a wide-open Dem primary field.

It was a good move by the MI Democratic Party.

My prediction is that we'll see a short term drop in the Democrats' polling numbers, but in the long run, the Dem will do better than Cherry would've done.

The problem is, who do you have?  Andy Dillon?  He's a centrist in the House who the unions don't like.  He raised taxes, so he's even more unpopular.  The mayor of Flint?  Do we really want the mayor of Flint running the state?  The mayor of Lansing - ok - he's said some wacky things before that he's been criticized for, but he's not too bad.  The problem is, nobody's heard of him.

I do think Bernero has the best shot.

Virg Bernero is the only one of the three you mentioned that I would actually go out of my way to vote for. Unfortunately, he's relatively unknown state-wide.

Does this increase the chances of the Democrats retaining the state in 2010?

Assuming they come up with a decent candidate, yes. Cherry was polling badly.

@ Hashemite

I doubt it. The odds certainly go a bit up, but ultimately the GOP will win.

Good news. Democrats need to run someone stronger than him if they want to win.

Yes, but as of now, I don't see them winning.  Perhaps if they get Andy Dillon to run and stick John Dingell in as his Lt. Governor, and Dingell could pull in the union votes (and money).

Why would Dingell run for Lieutenant Governor?

Gives him an excuse to give his seat to his wife - and enables the Dems to possibly retain the governor's seat.

John Dingell is way too old to be switching careers.

I think he has a bit too much invested in the House for that.

I agree.  I don't think he'll leave the House, but me and a friend were talking and he brought up the idea.  I don't think it'll happen, but I don't think it's impossible.