LANSING — Ahead of his campaign reboot arbitrarily billed as his “official” entrance into the Republican race for governor, Michigan reporters are already tired of James Craig’s political games. The retiree has been a declared candidate since July 21st and even definitively stated that same evening “I gotta tell you, I’m running” to Tucker Carlson during the national cable anchor’s live broadcast.
On a recent episode of Tim Skubick’s Off the Record, Michigan reporters Zoe Clark (Michigan Public Radio), Jim Kiertzner (WXYZ-TV), and Eric Lloyd (9&10 News) struggled to contain their laughter about the “kind of bizarre” operational style Craig’s campaign has taken on so far.
Now, the Detroit Metro Times is out with a new piece that doesn’t mince any words about the clunky and disorganized campaign the Detroit Dodger has been running since July. See below for excerpts and read the full report here.
Detroit Metro Times: James Craig is Pretending He Hasn’t Announced He’s Running for Governor Yet
By Steve Neavling
Former Detroit police chief James Craig plans to announce — again — that he’s running for governor of Michigan as a Republican. […]
On July 21, Craig appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and declared he was running for governor.
“I’ve got to tell you, I’m running,” Craig told Carlson. […]
But Craig, trying to drum up media attention, announced Wednesday on his Facebook page that he’s officially kicking off his campaign on Belle Isle at 10 a.m. Tuesday. […]
Craig will need all the media attention he can drum up. An August poll by EPIC-MRA showed that half of the respondents didn’t recognize Craig’s name. […]
Craig has been raising campaign contributions for more than a month, and he’s going to need it. Whitmer has raised more than $8.6 million this year, breaking a record for the most money raised by a Michigan gubernatorial candidate in an off-year. She has more than $10.6 million in the bank, her campaign announced in late July.
At Craig’s first campaign press conference on Aug. 23, he trod lightly on the subject of election fraud and former President Donald Trump, who remains wildly popular among Republicans in Michigan. Asked about the baseless claims that Democrats stole the election from Trump, Craig struggled to respond. […]
In response, the Michigan Democratic Party said it sent Craig a bottle of Windex.
“May it aid your efforts to wipe your question-dodging slate clean and be more transparent with reporters in the future, but we suggest just answering their questions next time,” MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite said in a statement. “Where you stand on the legitimacy of our elections and who or what you think incited the violent insurrection on January 6th would be an excellent start.”
