Bernie should kick this guy to the curb.

[kstewart33]

Intercept:

A MICHIGAN GUBERNATORIAL candidate who has branded himself as the Bernie Sanders of the 2018 race privately mused about running as an independent or Republican just weeks before launching his campaign, according to four political consultants and one small business association representative he met with.

Shri Thanedar, a millionaire who has poured millions of dollars of his own money into the race, ultimately decided to run as a progressive Democrat. He is now first in some polls, eclipsing former state Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer and former Detroit Public Health chief Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign is largely staffed by veterans of Sanders’s actual presidential campaign.

Thanedar has referred to himself as a “fiscally savvy Bernie,” and is pushing a platform full of Sanders’s progressive policy priorities. He’s claiming he will advocate for things like a single-payer health care system and a $15 minimum wage, both of which are uphill battles in Michigan and can only pass with a committed governor and legislature who do not abandon them out of political timidity. The campaign ads he has spent millions on call him the “most progressive Democrat running for governor.”

“He came to us looking for advice about running for governor, and was obviously in the market for a consultant,” (Hedmond, a prominent Democratic consultant) said. “We asked him what party he wanted to run from and he said he didn’t care. He said whichever side we thought he had the best chance to win on. Which we thought was interesting.” ..."we asked him about issue positions on a number of different issues that can play in one or the other of the primaries. And his position was mostly that he didn’t care. That he would adopt whatever position was beneficial for him to run for governor.”

https://theintercept.com/2018/04/06/shri-thanedar-michigan-millionaire-bernie-sanders-republican/?link_id=1&can_id=53d691a0f35d4839ab7890960c6553da&source=email-a-completely-bonkers-story-in-michigan&email_referrer=email_331866&email_subject=a-completely-bonkers-story-in-michigan

[Anon-C]

1. I see a millionaire who is buying first place in this race early on.

http://michiganradio.org/post/tv-ad-spending-early-start-michigans-governors-race

The Michigan Campaign Finance Network reports $1.7 million has been spent on TV ads to promote candidates in Michigan’s governor’s race.

The network’s Craig Mauger says most of that spending was by Democrat Shri Thanedar, who’s poured $1.2 million into TV campaign ads since the January 1.

[brush]

2. Yep, dump this guy. He has no positions, just whatever gets him power.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. So he is a Democrat? What's the problem?

Don't speak ill of Democrats.

[RandySF]

4. He almost ran as a Republican.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Says who? Not the candidate.

Sounds to me like some sour grapes or ratfucking by consultants who didn't get the job.

Anyway, what about 'teh math' of taking away a governorship held by the repigs?

Why are we tearing down a Democrat??

Thanedar gave a statement to MIRS News, contesting the claim that he hadn’t made up his mind. “I had been a Democrat all my life. I have voted Democratic all my life,” he said. “When I was going around talking to different people, I received some unsolicited advice, that, because I was a business person, I should be a Republican.”

[RandySF]

8. I personally know the consultant who was quoted.

He would not have lied.

[marble falls]

5. There are better Democrats.

[NCTraveler]

6. Dont you think critiquing Democrats in a primary should be acceptable?

This seems pretty mild.

[left-of-center2012]

9. Point is ...

Does DU think it is acceptable?