Here's something Saul Anuzis did last summer that tickled me. Andy Levin, son of the congressman and nephew of the senator, moved back to Michigan to run for a seat in the state senate.
Levin bought a house in the district, and one day while the contractors were getting it ready, Saul showed up with a welcome basket, complete with maps of the senate district, samples of Michigan products, and other choice items.
The Republican state chairman walked in and helpfully left it on his kitchen table. Naturally, he also brought press photographers. The point was to emphasize -- with a little humor -- that the young scion was a political opportunist who had been living in the Washington D.C. area and was moving back here just to run for office.
Democrats howled unfair, huffed and puffed, and talked about trespassing. Frankly, I thought it was great. Incidentally, I know Andy Levin. If I had lived in his district, I might well have voted for him.
But I thought what Saul did was in a long line of cute political practical jokes, the kind people used to pull that made politics fun. This wasn't race-baiting, or spreading rumors about someone's sexuality, or hinting they were traitors or child molesters.
The Democrats needed to lighten up a bit --and maybe respond in kind by taking his opponent, who is well into his 70s, suggestions for nursing homes near the Capitol dome.
When the votes came in on election night, Andy Levin narrowly lost a race most people expected him to win. I don't know if Saul's little press stunt had anything to do with it. But I do know that it was generally a terrible year for Republicans in Michigan.
And that as a result, Saul Anuzis is now fighting to keep his job, Normally, if the party has a bad year while you are chairman, it is sort of like being manager of a bad baseball team. You tend to get fired.
Now it is none of my business who the Republicans want as their state chair. But I might think twice about dumping Saul Anuzis. He is a tireless worker who is, as far as I know, the only state party chair with a blog -- and a good one, to boot.
He is also the kind of person himself who Republicans need to attract to win. The son of working-class Lithuanian immigrants, he, his wife and four sons are all perfectly bilingual.
Anuzis is a native Detroiter who didn't quite finish college. But he is a successful small telecommunications entrepreneur who loves to ride his big Harley motorcycle.
Other party chairs I have known tended to be either country club types or policy wonks who couldn't get a date to save their lives.
After the votes were in last week, I asked one fervent Democrat if she thought they'd can Anuzis. "I hope so," she said.
They might want to think about that.
I enjoy reading your essays very much, including this one. However, saying Saul Anuzis is not a “race-baiter” is ignoring some of the things he did in this campaign. Also, can you really call something a blog that does not allow comments and feedback? I don’t think so, and for me that’s really the enjoyable part about maintaining a blog. I have never enjoyed writing in a vacuum where no one reads what I have written.
I also loved your comments about Chris Ward’s alleged election reform. Keep it up.
Posted by: Communications Guru | November 15, 2006 at 03:25 PM
It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. Over on Absolute Michigan (click my name) there's a link to an interesting article on the Hotline blog that suggests that much of this power struggle is predicated on the fact that Anuzis is affiliated with Mitt Romney and that McCain supporters are partly behind it.
I agree, CG, that the comments make the blog. Without the feedback from the wider web, it's just a log.
Posted by: Andy McFarlane | November 16, 2006 at 09:19 AM
Michiganliberal.com endorses Saul Anuzis for Republican Party chair
http://tinyurl.com/yafr4f
Posted by: Äny Salyer | November 21, 2006 at 06:33 AM