Lt. Gov. Calley/Detroit News photo

While Attorney General Bill Schuette is all-in for Jeb
Bush — an endorsement that puts him at odds with most Michigan conservative
Republicans — Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Schuette’s likely opponent in the next
election for governor, has stayed above the fray.

Schuette has the best resume for the job as a former
congressman, state legislator, Agriculture Department director under governor John
Engler, and a Court of Appeals judge. In his second term as AG, Schuette is
busily checking all the boxes in advance of a 2018 run, even sounding like an
environmentalist while issuing warnings about the Enbridge pipeline below the
straits of Mackinac.

He’s recently gone through a rough patch – racking up a $2 million
legal bill in his futile attempt to block gay marriage, downplaying the state’s
liability in the Flint water crisis, pleading ignorance about the “dark money”
his AG campaigns have received, and attempting to charge $52,000 to fulfill a
Freedom of Information Act request received by the state – but it’s his ties to
the Bush family that could have a lasting impact.

Schuette has been an outspoken Bush backer since George
H.W. Bush’s 1980 run against Ronald Reagan. His role in 2015 as the Jeb Bush
campaign leader in Michigan could cause him problems, especially among the tea
party types, in a 2018 GOP primary with Calley.

Dennis Lennox, a freelance writer and GOP activist,
writes in today’s Detroit News that Calley may be in the catbird seat:

“… (Calley) has stayed out of the presidential endorsement game, despite his close
connections to the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Ohio Gov. John
Kasich.

“Schuette may be the public face and voice of the Bush campaign, but
Calley’s neutrality puts him in a slightly better position to run. Unless, of course, Bush becomes president.

“That’s because the former banker-turned state legislator-turned
lieutenant governor from Ionia County can remain above the fray and still appear front and center at events when would-be presidents come to Michigan.”

As for the other potential gubernatorial candidate on the
Republican side, outgoing Congresswoman Candice Miller. I’m still inclined to
believe that she won’t run. I think Miller got caught up in the moment on
Mackinac, during the GOP conference, when she said she was taking a look at
running. But I believe the Harrison Township Republican will decide to stay
home with her husband, Don, rather than spend a year campaigning all over the
state.

Miller was part of the Carly-mania on the island, as
Fiorina used the congresswoman’s food-and-drinks event to make a big splash. A
few days later, Miller endorsed Fiorina, the former CEO seeking the White
House.  And a few weeks after that,
Fiorina’s star started to fade rapidly. Could it be that Fiorina has already
been hit with the Candy Curse?

 

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