As campaign 2010 heats up on several fronts, there's a sharp contrast in how Michigan chairmen of the two major parties currently approach the battle. It was evident when I talked with both recently.
True to form after his election in 1995, Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer, 55, longest serving in the job and senior among the nation's Democratic state party chairs, is a confrontational, in-your-face critic of specific GOP candidates. He calls each of its gubernatorial contenders "second tier" now that 2006 nominee Dick DeVos and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson have said they won't run.
Battlin' Brewer periodically zaps Republican Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young, who is up for reelection, with slings and arrows similar to those that contributed to the surprise defeat of Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in 2008.
In his first months on the job, Republican State Chairman Ron Weisner, 63, a success in party fundraising as well as business and diplomacy, is wisely concentrating on strengthening the state party organization and finances.
DeVos told Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes "the way the Republican Party communicates its message has got to change." He said Weisner is "absolutely going to be a bulldog" on such matters as making the party more inclusive and stressing solutions for Michigan's economic recovery.
Does the bulldog bark? Howes wrote July 9 that DeVos' observation is "not necessarily supported by the party's tepid counterpoints to (Gov. Jennifer) Granholm's attempts to manage Michigan's slide."
I've been puzzled why a number of those counterpoints have been issued by Weisner's deputy or co-chair. But Weisner has been picking up combative steam and said Friday:
"This week the state's unemployment rate reached an astronomical 15.2 percent as another 31,000 jobs were lost in June. Enough is enough!
"Michigan has suffered for nearly seven years from a lack of leadership. It's time for a change in direction. We must elect leaders who will re-establish Michigan as a state of growth, development and jobs."
Weisner may not be well known to the public but his is a name of special significance within the GOP. In fact, its Lansing headquarters, named well before Weisner became chairman, is called Secchia-Weisner Republican Center. (Like Weisner, ex-Republican National Committeeman Peter Secchia, former ambassador to Italy, has been a major party contributor.)
Weisner deftly handled some delicate matters as President George W. Bush's ambassador to Slovakia, which many centuries ago was part of Hungary, and then, in the 20th century, part of Czechoslovakia (for a time in the Soviet orbit) and now one of Europe's fastest-growing economies as a republic with a population of about 5.5 million.
Back to Brewer: In our chat, we discussed a relatively unknown GOP contender who strikes me as having potential without baggage -- Ann Arbor businessman and civic leader Rick Snyder, former head of the Gateway computer operation who announces his candidacy with a tour that includes 10 northern stops.
Snyder's tour takes him Friday to Traverse City, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, St. Ignace and Sault Ste Marie. On Saturday: Gwinn, Houghton-Hancock, Iron River, Vulcan and Escanaba.
Brewer insists Snyder has baggage. He tags Snyder, as he effectively did DeVos in 2006, as "outsourcer of jobs to China ... a record of sending jobs overseas."
Snyder spokesman Jake Suski says: "Gateway didn't really have a presence in Michigan so they won't even be able to allege that Michigan jobs were lost. ... The facts clearly show Rick is not an outsourcer. He managed Gateway, created nearly 10,000 American jobs and then returned to Michigan (from South Dakota) to invest and grow innovative startups. Mark Brewer is lying about Rick's record in order to distract people from the obvious contrast with the current administration's record."
When GOP gubernatorial campaigns rap the current administration they swipe at Lt. Gov. John Cherry, frontrunner for the 2010 Democratic nomination and, to Republicans, Granholm's co-conspirator in Michigan's woes.
That also is the view of downstate Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, of Salem Township, who seeks the Democratic nomination, as she did as a state senator from Ypsilanti in 2002 before dropping out of a primary won by Granholm.
On a recent appearance on the Michigan Public Television "Off the Record" show, she said, voters "are not looking for four more years of the Granholm/Cherry administration. At some point in time we have to stop blaming (ex-Gov.) John Engler for our situation."
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
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