DETROIT – Pour more fuel on the fire when it comes to rumors of Gov. Rick Snyder running for president.
Snyder said at the beginning of the year he wants to travel the country to tout the Michigan comeback story.
Now a nonprofit 501(c)(4) fund has been set up to pay for those travels being run by the former chairman of the Michigan GOP.
Those close to the governor believe he has national aspirations and that's solidified by all the travel cross country.
A poll of political strategists from across the state doesn't see any validity here. What they do see is a governor looking to raise his national profile.
"I think it's something you do to keep your name out there for a future cabinet post or something along those lines," said political strategist Dennis Darnoi.
Darnoi said the timing is right for that maneuver and that Snyder does have a story to tell.
"I'm telling them that I'm the one who engineered the comeback of Detroit, I'm the one who has lowered Michigan's unemployment rate so it's hovering at the national average, I'm the one who brought economic diversification to the state," Darnoi said.
Having a story to tell and having the infrastructure ready to go to mount a presidential campaign are two very different things, Snyder does not have that infrastructure.
Then there are the political weaknesses. Proposal 1, which the governor has been championing, looks to be set to fail. He also barely squeaked by in his re-election bid, in a race that never should have been competitive in the first place except for missteps by his campaign.
Democrats find the idea of a Snyder presidential bid hilarious.
"The fact of the matter is he barely won re-election here in Michigan," said top Democratic strategist Joe Di Sano. "He can't get his agenda passed and Proposal 1 is about to go down in flames, so he has zero political capital left, so this tour is selling a comeback that not many have experienced."