George Weeks: Hoekstra may get boost

George Weeks

Related Photos

George Weeks

August 21, 2011

George Weeks, Syndicated columnist ---- The Record Eagle Mon Mar 19, 2012, 11:56 AM EDT

GOP — In the endorsement derby for the 2012 GOP nomination to oppose two-term Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, former nine-term U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra has a substantial lead over a field of relative unknowns. His best is yet to come.

I noted last week that Clark Durant, who made an unsuccessful bid for the 1990 Senate nomination and is co-founder of a Detroit charter school organization, had an impressive trio of endorsements by former chairs of the Michigan GOP -- ex-U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham (ousted by Stabenow in 2000), Saul Anuzis (now Michigan's Republican National Committeeman), and Betsy DeVos.

Hoekstra has been endorsed by such prominent Republicans as Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who with Hoekstra competed for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination; ex-Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who was Bouchard's chosen running mate; Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson; and former Republican National Committeeman Peter Secchia.

Assorted current activists from both sides of the state also have signed on for Hoekstra, and it's likely that all Republicans in the Michigan congressional delegation will be in his camp.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, current front runner in polling for the GOP presidential nomination, touts Hoekstra for the Senate -- as Hoekstra touts Romney for the White House.

Last week, insiders in the Hoekstra camp and that of Gov. Rick Snyder told me there are plans for Snyder to endorse Hoekstra, probably on Aug. 29 in Detroit.

That's significant not only because the two competed for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination, but also because Snyder in these troubled times has yet to play much of a political role beyond his gubernatorial duties.

The Durant camp portrays Hoekstra as a hiss-boo Washington insider. Durant, in filing paperwork last week to run for the Senate, said voters can chose "between the American Way [his campaign theme] and the Washington way."

In a recent blog urging Durant to run, Anuzis said: "Clark is NOT a Washington insider or career politician."

Nor are the other candidates -- ex-Kent County Probate Judge Randy Hekman, Roscommon businessman Peter Konetchy and Midland conservative activist Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

I had a phone chat last week with Hoekstra after he made stops in Traverse City and Petoskey and a fundraiser in Harbor Springs.

He's highly critical of the federal government's handling of the threat that Asian carp might enter Lake Michigan: "The last thing we need is another study."

Hoekstra said Michigan is fortunate to have "two great guys. ... two of the most knowledgable" members of the 12-member bipartisan joint House-Senate Super Committee on debt reduction -- Rep. Cave Camp, R-Midland, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Hoekstra, who is a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is critical of the Obama administration's handling of conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere.

On campaign trail with a bicycle

In the 1992 GOP primary, campaign bicycle tours helped Holland businessman Hoekstra upset 26-year Rep. Guy Vander Jagt of Luther in the solidly Republican 2nd Congressional District stretching from Benzie County to part of Allegan County.

Now, occasional bike gigs will be part of his effort to replace Stabenow, a former congresswoman who also served in the state House and Senate.

Bicycles "are part of what we are," said Hoekstra, who while in office continued the tours.

He underscores the point with a bike image atop his campaign letterhead.