Detroit News columnist Neil Ruben writes that Gov. Rick Snyder's voice in his last two campaign commercials "is deeper, if not quite Morgan Freeman-like. More rugged, if not quite Charles Bronson-like."
David Eggert of the Associated Press writes that Gov. Rick Snyder, pushing his “comeback state” for at least 2 ½ years, made some of his early TV ads about that.
But Eggert writes:
But as the Republican governor’s campaign ramps up in the final two months of the race, he is tweaking his message. Now Michigan is on the “road to recovery.”
As the Nov. 4 election approaches, Gov. Snyder, to the surprise of many, is locked in a tight race against challenger Mark Schauer, and apparently is finding the need to tweak his message.
He's playing down the "one tough nerd" thing and the comeback state theme.
Eggert of AP writes:
The fine-tuning reflected in new ads is an attempt to align with voters who, while more positive about the state’s direction, remain cautious. Snyder can point to a number of encouraging trends — gains in employment, personal income, population, home values and the state’s credit rating.
But it may have been too soon to bank on a comeback theme that Snyder himself has repeatedly tempered by warning that more work must be done.
As far as the deeper voice in the commercials, the News' Ruben writes:
It could be Snyder is feeling more heat this time around from opponent Mark Schauer, who only trails in the polls by a few percentage points. That’s one theory.
Or it could be that he had a touch of the sniffles. That’s as close as it comes to an official explanation.
Either way, it’s almost as if we have a new man in charge. Someone more mellifluous and more confident. Someone secure enough to wear a crew-necked sweatshirt in an ad called “Numbers” and make no reference at all to being a spindly nerd. Rather, he now says: “I’m an accountant.”
-- Allan Lengel
