DETROIT — Virtually Michigan's entire Republican Party establishment has endorsed former congressman Pete Hoekstra for their nomination to the U.S. Senate in next August's primary.
Most think the former intelligence committee chair deserves a shot at two-term Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow in the November election, one in which Republicans think they have a shot at recapturing control of the United States Senate.
But that doesn't impress crusty old Bob Lutz one bit. Lutz, a legend in the auto industry, thinks they should back Clark Durant, a conservative's conservative from Grosse Pointe who is best-known locally these days for founding Cornerstone Schools, a highly successful private, independent complex in inner-city Detroit.
Durant is, indeed, a man of ideas. He thinks this year is going to be a "defining election in this country's history," in which America chooses whether it is going to be destroyed by reckless spending, or changes course.
His message to fellow Michigan Republicans: If they nominate Pete Hoekstra, a Washington insider, they will lose. Even if he were to win, Durant seems to believe it wouldn't matter very much.
"Congressman Hoekstra may be pinching his own pennies, but for you, your children and the people of Michigan, he has been obligating your money and allowing spending to take place with reckless abandon and disregard for the consequences."
He refers to his GOP opponent as Stabenow's "partner" in sending the nation to economic ruin, and promises a return to the "American way of fixing and creating things."
That argument has sold Bob Lutz, who is not normally impressed by politicians.
"I am known as a car guy," said Lutz, who has had impressive careers at both Chrysler and General Motors. "So let me tell you about a great product that is coming to the marketplace ... Clark is absolutely the best candidate.
"In fact, in my judgment, he is the only Republican who can win the race."
Support from the auto industry legend has meant more than nice words; for the first time, Durant is now raising serious money; some $600,000 in the last quarter alone; $1.3 million so far.
His main rivals have even bigger war chests, but Durant feels that if he has enough money to compete, he can win.
"This is a different kind of a campaign," he said from his office at the private, independent academy he founded in 1991.
The Cornerstone campus, located on the site of what was once a school for deaf children, is impressive and beautiful, though it is a neighborhood where few would want to walk at dusk.
The school serves inner-city kids, but is not a charter school. An astonishing 95 percent of Cornerstone kids graduate, according to school records; more than most upscale high schools. Durant believes strongly in helping the disadvantaged.
"Look, if this were just about trying to be another Republican senator, I wouldn't be doing this," he said. He knows that if he manages to beat the two-term incumbent, he will be a 63-year-old freshman senator, at the bottom of the seniority and Washington power heap.
But, "I am doing this because this country is in serious trouble, and I am a problem-solver; that's what I do.
"My youngest son, John, who is 28, said to me, 'much of what is wrong today is the fault of your generation.' He thought I should run only if I could make a significant difference. And I think maybe I can."
The candidate is no stranger to politics. His father, Richard Durant, was a well-known conservative gadfly who twice ran for Congress in the 1950s, and later came to party meetings in the '70s to oppose the "Milliken moderates" who then ran the GOP.
Clark Durant was a stout backer of Ronald Reagan in 1976, when the state party establishment was for President Gerald Ford. Earlier, he had been an assistant to the president of Hillsdale College, a private school that was something of a philosophical mecca for conservatism in the William F. Buckley era.
The elder Durant put himself through law school in his 50s, and later, after Clark graduated from Notre Dame law school, the men formed a modest practice, Durant and Durant, with an office "on the 23rd floor of a building in which the elevator only went to the 22nd floor," he laughs. Rent was cheap; walk-in business non-existent.
"I spent six years as a voice for the voiceless, representing those who couldn't afford a lawyer," he said. Later, Clark Durant joined Munder Capital Management, and did quite well.
President Reagan made him the bankruptcy trustee for the Ann Arbor Railroad, which he successfully privatized, and later appointed him to the Legal Services Corporation, where he was roundly criticized by the legal establishment for not spending enough on services for the poor.
Essentially, Durant thinks the poor and downtrodden should be helped -- but that the private sector, not government, should do it. At times, he sounds almost like a libertarian.
He said only, "I'm just trying to be Clark Durant"
This is his second try at elective office. In 1990, he ran for another U.S. Senate nomination, losing solidly to then-congressman Bill Schuette, now Michigan attorney general. (Schuette, in turn, lost badly to U.S. Sen. Carl Levin.)
In the past, the well-spoken Durant has talked of challenging his opponents to a series of "Lincoln-Douglas style" debates about what this nation ought to be, and where it is going.
Whatever your politics, those would likely be fascinating.
Jack Lessenberry's email address is bucca@aol.com.
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