GOP confab became 'the convention that never was'

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and
Gov. Rick Snyder remain a team

After a surprisingly smooth nominating process – and another defeat for the tea party -- at the state GOP convention over the weekend, it appears that Lt. Gov. Brian Calley is as strong as ever and his closest ally, Congressman Justin Amash, continues his ascendancy.

That’s the view of Dennis Lennox, columnist for our sister paper, The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, who  writes that the tea party challenge to Calley by Wes Nakagiri backfired.

Here’s a portion of his piece:

“In the end, the sensible conservatives (aka real Republicans) were heard loud and clear when they gave 65 percent of the convention's votes to Calley.
“That is impressive considering many were expecting floor fights and the sort of contention seen and heard at the Democratic State Convention in Lansing, where pro-abortion delegates disowned William Murphy, the party nominee for Michigan Supreme Court justice, because he received a pro-life endorsement in a race many years ago.

“Calley's victory was mostly the result of the first statewide precinct delegate — the last ballot line on each party’s primary election ballot — recruitment campaign since 1988, when a GOP civil war between supporters of then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, Jack Kemp and Pat Robertson resulted in dueling conventions at the height of the nomination campaign to succeed outgoing President Ronald Reagan.
“Another critical component in his win was the surrogacy of Justin Amash, the unabashed libertarian congressman from Cascade Township in Kent County.”