Former Court of Appeals Judge Bill SCHUETTE today rolled out a number of endorsements in his quest to be the next Republican nominee for Attorney General, leading some in the Schuette camp to declare the race "about over."
Among those giving Schuette the nod were former U.S. Sen. Spencer ABRAHAM, former Michigan Republican Party (MRP) Chair Saul ANUZIS, former National Committeeman Chuck YOB, former Ambassador Peter SECCHIA, 2006 gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVOS and former MRP Chair Betsy DeVOS.
Add John Engler to that list (endorsed way back in May), along with a bunch of local Pub chairs that I don't really feel like looking up again. Bishop has his work cut out for him, although he has been the comeback kid before.
History shows, however, that Bishop does surprisingly well in caucus/convention-like settings when he decides to turn it on, which he hasn't done, yet. He won the University of Michigan race in the '90s when nobody gave him a chance. He won the Majority Leader race when all the talk in Lansing a year out was that it was between Sen. Jason ALLEN (R-Traverse City) and Sen. Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland).
Yeah, well, this time we are talking about some of the biggest names in the Wingnut Hemisphere, and they carry their big Wingnut Checkbooks and considerable political pressure with them. You almost feel sorry for the guy.
Almost.
Problem with this is that it might cause Bishop to stoop to some drastic tactics when it comes to dealing with the budget, just to try and win back the affection of the party faithful. He took a lot of heat in '07 for "allowing" the tax votes... would he shut down the government this time just to show how "tough" he is?
Let's hope not.