The Democratic field in Michigan's gubernatorial race is down to two:
State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith ended her bid for the Democratic nomination for governor this morning, leaving only two candidates in a primary that has been topsy-turvy almost since it began.
Smith, 69, from Salem Township in Washtenaw County, did not make a formal endorsement of either of her rivals, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero or state House Speaker Andy Dillon.
But she said in a statement that she shared a "concern of splitting the progressive vote and ending up with a candidate that does not represent core Democratic values."
With Smith routinely polling in the single digits, there wasn't much of a route to victory for her. But what she was accomplishing was siphoning enough liberal votes away from fellow progressive Virg Bernero to leave centrist Andy Dillon in the lead (and her statement shows she recognized that problem). Tomorrow is the deadline for filing signatures for the August primary, so the field is looking pretty locked-in now... and with Smith out (and with the Geoffrey Feiger boomlet thankfully vanishing), it looks like Bernero has the progressive end of the party to himself now, giving him much better odds of grabbing the nomination.
