MI GOV: No Cakewalk For Cherry
By Felicia Sonmez
A year after Pres. Obama won his state by 16 points over Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the deck is stacked against MI LG John Cherry (D).
MI leads the nation in unemployment, with a 14.3% jobless rate, and Cherry is a Dem LG running at a time when it's not especially helpful to belong to either an incumbent admin. or the POTUS' party. Recent polls show him trailing several GOPers -- including AG Mike Cox (R), Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-02) and Oakland Co. Sheriff Mike Bouchard (R), all of whom are vying for their party's nod.
In an interview 12/2 at the DGA's annual DC gathering, Cherry acknowledged that the landscape he faces is a challenging one. But he said he's confident that his background and ideas will ensure that voters will view him independently from his boss, term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), and that ultimately, he is the candidate best equipped to put MI on a path toward diversifying its economy.
Running as a member of an incumbent admin. "is an issue," Cherry acknowledged, "because there is some fatigue -- as there would be, in the case of an economy that's in trouble."
But he said that while there's a tendency now for voters to view him as part of Granholm's admin., it's "natural, as the campaign goes forward," that he'll develop his own profile.
"In the end, it's making it as simple as this: Do I look like Jennifer Granholm?" Cherry said. "I come from a different background than her. I look different. I talk different. I have different interests. I have my own history. And part of it's telling my own story."
That story includes Cherry's background working on behalf of education and the environment. Cherry, who led the LG's Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth and served as vice-chair of the Great Lakes Commission, said those two factors will be the "building blocks" in rebuilding MI's economy.
"People understand that the thing that is unique to Michigan -- and our strongest asset -- is our water," Cherry said. The state needs to "make the strong case that water and our manufacturing capability allows us to diversify into other non-auto sectors," he added.
Even as he sought to emphasize his own record and priorities, Cherry acknowledged there's a limit to how much he'll try to distance himself from Granholm. "You know, there's a line here, a loyalty line, where if you violate that, you've got another problem," he said.
As for the challenge of being a Dem at a time when the economy's still struggling, Cherry said he's ultimately more closely aligned with voters' concerns than the GOP, which he said is a party that's "stuck very much in the right wing."
Echoing a theme from Obama's West Point speech last night, Cherry said that "nation-building needs to occur right here in the United States."