Dan Kildee's bid to be Michigan’s next governor is coming to an abrupt end just one week after it started.
The former county treasurer and chairman of the county's Land Bank Authority told The Flint Journal he will announce Friday that he's leaving the race to avoid splitting the support of organized labor and the votes of progressives in the Democratic primary.
"If I had stayed in, it would have turned into fractious primary fight," Kildee said. "In that scenario, no one wins."
Doesn't want to split the liberal vote, although there had been rumors that the UAW was going to back Bernero - which would have made his run difficult, to say the least.
Kildee said it took just a few days after filing paperwork to run for governor to see he was on a three-way collision course with state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith and Lansing Mayor Virg Bereno among the party's more liberal voters.
"With two or three progressive Democrats running, (House Speaker) Andy Dillon would probably be assured the nomination," he said. "My philosophical differences with him would make it hard to contribute to (that) scenario."
Too bad. Between the two, I think he had the better temperament, and I'll be honest here - I'm just waiting for Virg to shoot himself in the foot by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Hope he starts to practice a bit of statesmanship, because the "angry union guy" is not going to fly with a lot of voters.
Step on up, Bernero fans - let's see what ya got.