The billionaire Republican running for the job of running the state of Michigan has taken to some interesting methods of promoting himself - like trying to avoid who he is, and what party he represents.
(cross posted @
SecondPageMedia over
here)
Granholm, the incumbent, once held a 60/30 lead over the challenger in early polls - which is not to be unexpected as the new guy on the scene typically has to get his face out there before people start to notice, and start to decide on if they like him or not. In recent weeks the polls have tightened and seem to indicate what will be a long and bitterly fought campaign - both Granholm and DeVos are polling in the mid 40's, with Granholm typically coming out on the winning end of such numbers, but this race is by far too close to call.
Granholm, a Democrat, has climbed the ladder of success in the party just about as high as she can go. Even though she became Michigan's first governor and might, under other circumstances, be able to challenge for the President some day, she is disqualified because she was born in Vancouver (moved to the U.S. when she was 4), and non-natural born American citizens are not allowed to hold the Presidency in this country. Granholm's governor career has been marred by the economic downturn that our federal government continues to insist is not happening. Being the center of industrial manufacturing we are (or some would argue, "were"), when it comes to downturns this state is the first to fall and the last to recover. While unemployment has stabilized, it is still well above the national average, and this is one of those states where people who are getting a new job are finding it makes a significant percentage less than their old job did. I don't need to go run and look at statistics and findings to figure that one out - I have personally looked at job applications at my workplace, and I find people who used to make $15, $20, or more dollars an hour applying to a place that is filled with part-timers, college kids, and pretty much not anyone who is making more than $10 an hour, unless they are a manager - and I work in the most affluent county in this state. The downfall of Michigan's economy was well under way before Granholm got into office, but she does get the blame for some of what is happening, or at least she gets attacked in advertisements from the DeVos campaign. Granholm does have the recent announced increase in Michigan's minimum wage, however - and that's worth something.
This leads me into Mr. DeVos, the title of this entry, and what I dislike about politics in general - even though I am a political science lover. DeVos's first round of ads have attempted to make him appear like some guy you could talk to, driving around in a run-of-the-mill pickup truck, dressed somewhere between what you would find a farmer wearing and what you would find an average suburbanite wearing, saying how he feels our collective Michigan pain and how he's going to help the little guy - you know, the typical election rhetoric. The first time seeing these commercials on local TV I thought that there was something missing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what. A second time through and I was surprised at what was missing. The third time, I confirmed what I was thinking, and I must admit I was surprised with how sneaky and good it was. Nowhere in any of the advertisements for DeVos does it say he is a Republican. Not even in the small "paid for by the persons for so on and so forth" line at the bottom of the screen at the end of the ad. There's no mention of the Republican Party, a Republican committee, a Republican anything. The image that is being portrayed in the advertisements coupled with his party affiliation began to make sense - it would seem at the moment that the last thing this man wants is for it to be known that he is a Republican.
The pickup truck and the down-home feeling in the advertisements also began to make sense as after a few clicks around the internet, you can read about Mr. DeVos's life - how he was the president of Alticor, how he is a billionaire (for the record, Granholm and her husband combined for $178k in earnings last year, and DeVos refuses to release his tax statements to the public), how he announced his candidacy on Mackinac Island - which is a lovely vacation destination for millionaires, billionaires, and for those who save wisely enough to afford more than an overnight stay - a day trip for the rest of us.
DeVos is everything that this state does not need right now. He criticizes someone who can't get any sort of economic reform done when both the state house and senate are of the opposite party as her, he is one of those businessmen who outsource American jobs to the far east (which is a bad thing, especially here - but DeVos does claim that though he outsourced 1,400 jobs, he did create 300!), and his election would be nothing more than a lock that this state will continue to falter, suffer, and young people like me will continue to look to anywhere but here for a better future.
It's the gutlessness that I hate in politics - the pandering, the focus groups, the people getting paid to run around and gauge how people like me are supposed to think. Apparently those "in the know" have recommended to the DeVos campaign that it might not be a good idea to advertise that he is a republican, or that he is filthy freaking rich. Why? Why not show your true colors. Why not stand up there and say "this is who I am, I don't really care if you don't like it, this is what I am bringing to the table, if you agree with my policies, vote for me". Hell, I'd consider voting for the guy just on the brass balls it would take to stand out in public and say that. Unfortunately no one in this country will be running a campaign like that any time soon (at least on a state or national level) because we have to sit around and be delicate, be caring, be compassionate, or at least wear a shit eating grin and pretend that we are.
If DeVos wins, he will show his true red-state colors, and taxes for businesses and the rich will fall away as no taxes on the middle class are raised, which cause more services to be under funded, which lead to more local millage increases, which leads to more of a burden on the middle and lower classes than the upper, which leads to... well... lead to America in the 21st century - or at least how it has turned out so far. Being that the man is a billionaire, probably has some rather intelligent people working for him, and probably will not let up on blaming the faults of the party he supports on the governor who has had everyone else's national mistakes dumped upon her, he probably has a decent shot of winning. I'd hope this wouldn't be the case, but this is politics in America. The message doesn't matter, just how shiny the wrapper is.
Fact checking:
Jennifer Granholm: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Dick DeVos: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
2006 Michigan Governor election w/ polls: http://en.wikipedia.org/...