“Coronations rarely have a way of going the way they are supposed to…” – pollster Richard Czuba
The Republican gubernatorial primary is still somehow very much “slow to jell” all these months in.
Here’s how things are looking for those that are actually in, not that you’d know if you took a look at the speaker list for Jackson County’s “Under the Oaks” event that took place last week, otherwise known as the beginning of the Craig coronation:
National Journal elevated the news that infamous and god-awful former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos “is positioning herself for a gubernatorial run in 2022.” The news came a day after Governor Whitmer signed a “historic” $17.1 billion dollar public education budget that completely closes a decades-long state funding gap between school districts — all without raising taxes.
Please welcome the latest extremist and 7th candidate to hop in the clown car — Republican Articia Bomer. Claims to fame include testifying in favor of a slate of anti-voter bills currently progressing through the state House, getting disqualified from this year’s Detroit mayoral primary, and getting less than 1% of the vote in the 2020 general election for Michigan’s 13th congressional district. Hey, maybe the third time will be the charm for Bomer.
Speaking of potential three-time losers, nickel thief John James is once again back in the news hoping that we’ll stop calling him that now that the multimillionaire is claiming that he’s finally followed through on his pledge to Michigan charities. We’ll never forget the pithy comment he gave the Detroit News when they originally exposed this uniquely cruel slow walk of donations. “Quite frankly…the need will always be there” for charities, and for John James, it will never be as pressing as the need to clean up this optics nightmare days before the primary gets even more crowded.
Looks like next week is showtime for quasi-candidate and serial question-dodger James Craig, who teased on Tucker Carlson’s show earlier this week that he would have an “important announcement” to share on his show next week. Apparently so important that it’s not worth sharing with — you know — the folks Craig’s going to need to vote for him that actually reside within Michigan.
Craig’s political insider-propped up shadow campaign is already off to a rough start. Detroit Metro Times and Detroit Free Press dredged up Craig’s slate of bankruptcies from the 90s. On top of that, pollster Richard Czuba warned to MIRS last week that “Coronations rarely have a way of going the way they are supposed to (and) they often don’t go the way leaders of the party might have expected. [The grassroots are] going to have an enormous influence and a far bigger influence than the establishment here. All the energy is on the activist side.”
To that end, insurrectionist Ryan Kelley has your in-state political activism covered with yet another opportunity to showcase just how much of an extremist he is. You can catch him tomorrow protesting Henry Ford Health Systems for their “Nazi approach” of mandating that their employees be vaccinated.
If you plan on attending, please wear a mask. Have a great weekend from all of us at MDP.
