Gov. Engler prepares for '98 re-election campaign

Well, summer's about over.

And John Engler, who has had an uncanny ability to plot winning campaigns since his student days at Michigan State University, appears ready to tap into those talents again.

This past week he held 12 - count 'em, 12 - news conferences around the state talking about how roads will be improved with money from the 4 cents added to the state gasoline tax.

"no use, no excuse" on drug use among students.

As this week kicks off, the governor plans to be in Holland today to crow about how well Project Zero has moved people off welfare in Ottawa County, and to announce six new Project Zero sites.

A Friday news release announcing the Project Zero news conference notes that "NBC Nightly News was in Michigan this week covering the story," just in case no one thinks a Project Zero news conference is a big deal.

Engler spokesperson John Truscott agreed the governor is making a lot of appearances. But he said the actual campaigning won't start until next spring.

The dozen news conferences on roads "gave us an opportunity to get into a lot of communities and talk about what's being done locally," Truscott said.

"The media made the road issue the primary issue in the state. We want people to know that we're fixing the roads."

But Gerald Faverman, professor of social policy at Michigan State University, said there's no question that an Engler re-election campaign is underway.

"I think the Engler people are afraid. And they're taking all this stuff and trying to get it behind them," Faverman said.

The "stuff" he's referring to is the Aug. 1 hike in the state gasoline tax from 15 cents to 19 cents and rumbles in the education community over whether schools are really getting the money they need to improve.

"They know it's going to be a tough campaign, and they're doing the same thing that Blanchard did, which was sing a song that did not reflect the reality" of what was happening in the state, Faverman said.

Tom Shields of Marketing Resource Group, however, said Engler is nowhere near being on the campaign trail.

"This is the age-old problem of announcing early," said Shields, whose Lansing-based company often works on Republican campaigns.

"If Michelle had not had that announcement in the paper, no one would give a second thought to whatever the governor is doing now. But now she has done that, everything is looked at differently."

The Red Wings' Capitol appearance, for instance, was set up in June before the governor had indicated he planned to run again, Shields said.

Shields added, however, that all elected officials perpetually campaign. "The governor has never stopped campaigning from 1991," he said. "Part of your job is to be out there."

With union heavyweights such as the United Auto Workers and many others in the AFL-CIO already endorsing Democratic candidate Larry Owen, an East Lansing attorney, Engler pretty much knows his opponent will be either Owen or former state Commerce Director Doug Ross.

Neither man is much of a threat yet in the polls, although both are actively poking holes in the governor's speeches and looking for weak spots in his record.

And despite his lead, Engler and his campaign team have no intention of being complacent. Even if the actual campaign is not yet underway, the governor has no intention of letting any opponents control the statewide political agenda.

Besides, Truscott said, the governor has every right to promote his successes - in raising more money for road repairs through the gasoline tax hike, and getting more people off welfare.

"We are proud of the (road) solution, ... and we'll be out talking about it in the spring," he said.

As for Project Zero, "it's been a huge success, and we're going to be expanding it," he said. "It's certainly the governor's prerogative to talk about programs that work. We're extremely proud of that."

09-15-97