(No caption)
Shri Thanedar
Shri Thanedar is an immigrant, an entrepreneur, a very wealthy man and now "the bizarro-world Trump storming Michigan politics," according to Politico, where Steve Friess takes a deep dive into the candidacy of a political newcomer many Democrats don't trust:
He’s a 63-year-old millionaire chemist and entrepreneur who took advantage of the fact that only a few months ago, when he launched his quixotic, self-financed campaign for Michigan governor, he was utterly unknown. Upon that blank canvas, he’s spent $3 million and counting in TV ads to paint an image as a Sanders acolyte with big “progressive” ideas who disarms skeptics of his accent (Thanedar is an Indian immigrant) and his non-European name with endearing, self-effacing jokes.
As a result, he now has higher name recognition than former state Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, the presumed Democratic front-runner. Since March, several polls have had him in a statistical tie with Whitmer—with the most recent giving Thanedar a 3-point lead. Thanedar has pledged $6 million of his own money to his campaign, which made a big splash with a debut TV commercial during this year’s Super Bowl. Until last week, with less than two months until the Aug. 7 primary, he was the only Democratic candidate to run TV ads. . . .
To many in Michigan, Thanedar’s explosive burst onto the political scene is a partisan mirror image of the trajectory of another oddly coiffed, thick-accented businessman-turned-politician. And as establishment Republicans in 2015 and 2016 did with Donald Trump, Democrats here question what Shri Thanedar really believes.
Thanedar's candidacy, which looked like a vanity campaign just a few months ago -- remember the grammatically mangled "Shri for We" slogan? -- now seems like something far more serious. Credible, even.
It's a good read, and an interesting look at what it takes for a politician to sidestep the usual career ladder, as the guy in the White House did. Could the Michigan's governor's mansion be next?
