(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/04/2023) You may recall that the Capitol Press Corps and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer played cat and mouse for months about the chance she might run for vice president if selected by then-nominee Joe Biden.
She consistently asserted that a future at the nation's capitol was not in her plans, but she finally confessed that indeed if candidate Biden had called, she would have answered with an affirmative response.
Fast forward to now.
They'd just cleaned up the last bit of confetti and emptied the last champagne bottle from celebrating the Governor's impressive 11-point victory on Election Day when the national media once again began tapping its drum beat about Michigan's governor running for president.
The record shows that in her national interviews on this subject she has never repeated what she did say about all this from the comfort of her executive office in the Romney building last month.
It was clear.
It was direct.
And it left no doubt, "I will not run for president in 2024."
"You mean it?"
"Yes," she put a point on it.
However, in that interview and with other media, she left the door open to running after 2024.
Hence it was only natural that when the governor and First Gentleman sat down for their annual Evening with the Governor WKAR-Michigan Public TV informal interview earlier this month, the topic came up again.
It began with her full throated endorsement of moving Michigan up in the presidential primary sweepstakes.
Anchor: "Do you want to do that?
Governor: "I do and I'm hopeful we can get it done."
"Here's what's going to happen if you do."
"What?"
"Well, they're going to say, "our favorite daughter should run for president."
Which prompted the familiar Whitmer laugh and then this, "Maybe they'll say I'm doing it so (you) can run for president. (You're) the only one who talks about it all the time," she reflected hoping to avoid another follow-up question.
Hope denied.
"To your credit, you did say you would not run in 2024 . . . but then you left the door open. Is the door open after 2024?"
"I don't know what I'm going to do after I'm out of office," she began what quickly became a newsworthy proclamation.
"Can I fathom in 10 years, 15 years? Maybe, if I'm called to service. I guess that's possible,"
Bingo.
Much like the reveal that she would have run for vice president, this was not a declaration that she would run for president after 2024, but she clearly has left the door open saying it was possible.
You can view the entire EWTG broadcast at wkar.org.
