Anuzis keeps his job

Dave Dishaw has pulled out of the race to head the Michigan Republican Party and endorsed current Chair Saul Anuzis, leaving Anuzis as the only announced candidate in the race. While many Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief that a prolonged public struggle is out of the quesiton, Dishaw's endorsement email outlined four things he and his supporters expect out of Michigan's GOP going forward.

Dishaw is seeking more involvement from grassroots party leaders (read: out-state party leaders) in decision making and improving "Get-out-the-vote" and election inspecting operations.

The other one took aim at the Michigan GOP's direct mail campaign, which West Michigan Republicans blame for losses in and around Grand Rapids.

Voters in Grand Rapids got a piece of campaign literature that slammed Democrat Robert Dean, despite the fact that the campaign between him and Republican Tim Doyle had been almost crystal clean thus far. Worst of all, Dean's picture (he's black) looked to be intentionally darkened, a move that left the Doyle camp rebutting allegations of race-baiting.

The move left Doyle reeling, playing damage control instead of getting his message out, and Dean won the race.

Dishaw's letter shows that he read the writing on the wall, saw that Anuzis' support was consolidating, and got out while the getting was good. But Anuzis has been put on notice, and I'll be very interested to see if this unity is lasting or not.

Read Disahw's entire letter at Anuzis' blog.