Michigan primary election results of 2010 send mixed signals

The voters of Michigan sent mixed messages about their mood in yesterday's state primary, the 2010 results show. While a number of pre-poll favorites came up short in closely watched contests and a Detroit political dynasty came to an end, other favored candidates handily won their races.

The biggest surprises came in the Republican and Democratic primaries for governor. On the Republican side, Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, a political newcomer, came from the back of the pack to overtake the two favored candidates, state Attorney General Mike Cox and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra. Snyder beat his closest opponent, Hoekstra, by a comfortable nine-percentage-point margin; the final tally was Snyder, 36 percent, Hoekstra, 27 percent, and Cox, 23 percent. The fourth candidate, Mike Bouchard, got 12 percent of the GOP Michigan primary vote.

The favored Democratic
candidate for most of the campaign, House Speaker Andy Dillon, also fell to a late surge by his opponent, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. Bernero won the Democratic primary, 59 to 41 percent, by running as a populist outsider in contrast to Lansing insider Dillon.