Snyder, Bernero ride ads to leads in governor polls

Lansing -- A barrage of ads has helped vault GOP candidate Rick Snyder and Democratic candidate Virg Bernero to leads in their primary races.

"It's clearly a horse race," said Bill Rustem, president of Public Sector Consultants Inc., a Lansing-based public policy think tank, referring to new poll numbers that show Ann Arbor businessman Snyder inching ahead on the Republican side in a closely packed race that remains bunched at the top.

"It's going to depend on who shows up next Tuesday (primary election day) and which primary they vote in."

Ads for Snyder in the final days of the GOP primary race for governor apparently are giving the candidate a timely boost.

Snyder had a 2-percentage-point lead over Attorney General Mike Cox, followed by Hoekstra, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and state Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo, according to a Detroit Free Press poll by EPIC/MRA of 400 likely Republican voters released Thursday. Recent surveys had Snyder running a close third.

Bernero was ahead by about 8 percentage points in a poll of 400 likely primary voters taken July 24-26, over House Speaker Andy Dillon, with about one-quarter of voters undecided.

Dillon had been leading Bernero in recent surveys.

Chris DeWitt, a Democratic political consultant in East Lansing, said Bernero's turnaround followed weeks of ads run by the Genesee County Democratic Party that play up Bernero's labor support and abortion rights stance while slamming Dillon's stand against abortion and saying he oversaw layoffs and shifting of jobs overseas as a business executive.

"These were powerful ads and there was no defense of Dillon or counter-attack that took place," DeWitt said.

T.J. Bucholz, spokesman for the Dillon campaign, said of Monday's EPIC/MRA poll: "During the course of this campaign, we have seen poll numbers rise and fall.

"The powers that be are spending millions of dollars on ads distorting Andy Dillon's record as a business turnaround expert and attempting to distract voters by attacking his personal beliefs. We believe that Democratic primary voters will choose Dillon's independence and bold ideas over Bernero's divisive, old-style politics."

Jamaine Dickens, spokesman for the Bernero camp, said: "The Virg Bernero message is working. ... Michigan voters are keenly aware that their state government is broken. Voters are supporting Virg's call to shake things up and get state government on the side of working families."

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