A few months ago, John Wierzbicki, an active Republican from suburban Detroit, was interested in the presidential candidacy of Sen. Bob Dole (R., Kan).
At the Michigan Republican Party`s convention here over the weekend, though, Wierzbicki was wearing a button proclaiming his support for Vice President George Bush.
”It`s become a Bush-Kemp race here,” Wierzbicki said. ”Being for anyone else seemed like being neutral. So I`m for Bush.”
Michigan is the state which, in effect, is holding its 1988 Republican presidential primary this year through its delegate-selection process, and both Bush and Rep. Jack Kemp (R., N.Y.) have paid political operatives.
With one exception, the other likely contenders seem to be giving up on Michigan. Dole supporters did have a hospitality suite open at the gathering here, and the senator is expected to speak in Benton Harbor on March 15, but he apparently is not going to make a major effort in Michigan.
”I don`t think it makes any sense,” said Donald Devine, who directs Dole`s political committee. ”It`s a crazy system they`ve got here.”
The system they`ve got here is for GOP convention delegates to be chosen at a state convention by delegates who in turn will be chosen by about 10,000 precinct delegates who will be selected in a primary on Aug. 5.
The effective winner, though, may be known shortly after May 27, the deadline for filing to run for precinct delegates.
That`s because about one-third of these 10,000 seats usually go unfilled, and what Bush and Kemp staffers are doing here is finding Republicans to run for these spots, usually unopposed.
”We`re not going to challenge any incumbent delegates,” said Ken Connally, who is directing operations here for Bush`s Fund for America`s Future. ”We are recruiting people to run for open seats.”
The Kemp campaign has a similar strategy. ”Our first priority is to fill unfilled positions,” said State Sen. Dick Posthumous, one of Kemp`s leading supporters here. ”We`re not running away from challenging delegates favorable to Bush, but that`s not what we`re concentrating on.”
Former Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee seems to be ignoring Michigan entirely, concentrating his early efforts on New Hampshire, which will hold the first real presidential primary in 1988 and where he plans to locate his national campaign headquarters. Other potential contenders, such as former Gov. Pierre DuPont of Delaware and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have made a speech or two in the state, but have no political operations in place.
This could detract from the importance of the early contest here, which some Republicans in other states regard as a mistake, something that could backfire on the earnest and energetic leaders of the state party, who obviously relish their newfound national prominence.
The national leaders, who do not want to be identified, fear that Michigan`s unususal delegate selection system could embroil Republicans in the kind of rules and procedures battles that have bedeviled Democrats in recent years. They also fear that it is just too early to start official campaigning for 1988, even before the 1986 congressional elections.
One reason for their discomfort is that the candidate who seems to be most active here after Bush and Kemp is Pat Robertson, the evangelist preacher who hosts ”The 700 Club” on his own television station and who appears to be getting ready to run for president.
Robertson`s political organization, the Freedom Council, has been active in the state, and held a rally here before the GOP gathering opened. Like all the other political organizations, the Freedom Council insists that it is not a presidential campaign organization. Unlike the others, it operates by trying not to draw attention to itself. If it held any functions during the meeting here, it did not put them on the official list of activities.
