| Apparently a Republican-written white paper spelling out their demise over the next couple years wasn't bad enough, but the snowball just keeps rolling down the hill, and growing in size. WXYZ TV (Channel 7 out of Detroit) just released the results of a poll about potential gubernatorial candidates, and continues to reinforce what Democrats, Republicans, and the public all know - Republicans are weak, really weak. Among Democrats, in an open-ended question without hearing the list of Democratic candidates, if the primary election were held today, the leading candidate would be Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, who is polling at 9%. The second most popular candidate is US Senator Debbie Stabenow, who polls at 5%, followed by Governor Jennifer Granholm at 3%. However, Governor Granholm is term-limited, and cannot run again. This is great news for Cherry, as Stabenow has already announced that she is not running in the 2010 gubernatorial race, giving Cherry the definitive lead. He also does better than anyone of any of the announced or even remotely likely Democratic candidates for Governor, and is either winning or within the margin of error with all the Republicans he's matched up with. And what about those Republicans, you ask? Well, besides duking it out amongst themselves with very little flair or notability, there's also some telling items, namely that Rick Snyder, who may be seen as some as the dark horse in the race, didn't even garner enough points to pull a single percentage point. Again with the usual caveat - it's only May of 2009. There's a lot of time between now and November of 2010, but it's doubtful that the Republicans can make up that much ground with their entire field between now and then. That being said, none of the Democratic candidates should be resting on their laurels, nor should their supporters, but the poll certainly is encouraging. |
