What a difference a day (or two) makes. After telling the Detroit Free Press he was not seriously looking at the governor’s race next year, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said he is “seriously considering” the race, according to MIRS, a legislative news service.
The surprising answer was his first pseudo no. What’s the downside for Bernero here?
He can run while getting paid to be mayor of Lansing. The Democratic field is weak. And if he loses, he still has a couple of years to make up with a Lansing electorate he told he would serve out his full second term as mayor.
And maybe he could win. Stranger things have happened in politics. I once had a front-row seat to an election in which a retiree who knew squat about national issues won a Democratic primary over one of the smartest members of Congress I’ve ever met. And he did it without really even trying.
Bernero actually knows quite a bit about issues — and he would certainly be trying. His energy is his No. 1 asset.
I wouldn’t bet on him to win. And I’m not sure what kind of governor he would make if he did.
All I would advise is that if he’s going to be an absentee mayor in 2010, he might want to give his top deputy, Jerry Ambrose, a raise.
