Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig officially launched his campaign for Michigan Governor Tuesday, and deranged, radical leftists didn’t like it.
Dozens of extremists, attempting to silence and cancel the Chief, surrounded him, then screamed at him that he was a “Nazi,” and hurled obscenities as they refused to let him give his speech.
Craig stared them down, made his announcement anyway, then left before the scene could escalate further. He gave his full speech at a secure location nearby.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources was nowhere to be found, despite assurances to the Craig campaign they had security handled, and there was no need to alert the Michigan State Police.
Craig and others questioned if Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who controls the DNR, told them to stand down. After all, where the hell were they? Seems pretty odd.
Regardless, despite the sickening attempt to terrorize the Chief, the announcement turned out to be the most memorable in modern Michigan political history, by far, and a big league positive for Chief Craig.
Craig received over 1,000 donations, millions in earned media coverage, rave reviews from politicos, members of the press, and a whole lot of sympathy from grassroots Republicans. Even many Democrats who were appaled at his treatment.
Craig also had a major interview on the number one news show in the country, Tucker Carlson, following the attack.
“Those protestors, unbeknownst to them, did a big favor for the campaign of Chief James Craig,” said Lloyd Jackson with WJR Radio.”He’s getting a lot more attention. He was on TV, he was in the papers, he’s everywhere.”
His WJR colleague Paul Smith agreed.
“He wouldn’t have had this much coverage without these people doing what they did.”
Longtime Republican politico Nick DeLeeuw called the launch a “home run” in an interview with the Detroit Free Press.
“The folks that don’t know the players involved and who don’t watch these things super closely are going to see (the announcement) they’re going to see the mob and they’re going to go, ‘oh, this guy is serious, this guy needs help,” DeLeeuw said. “I don’t know that they drew up (the announcement) that way, but when they were presented with what was going on on the field, the facts on the field, it was a home run for the Craig camp.”
William Nowling, PR professional and former spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, tweeted:
“Chief James Craig couldn’t have scripted a better announcement. Controversy. Guaranteed coverage for days. National media attention which helps with fundraising?”
Nowling also Tweeted:
“What the media—and the “strategists”—miss is that these announcement events are not for them. They are not even for the general electorate. They are for a very hyper-partisan base vote that actually votes in primaries. Period.”
Republican political consultant John Selleck agreed.
“The protesters who came there to disrupt and sort of cancel James Craig probably did him a favor.”
Dave Boucher of The Detroit Free Press notes the announcement is a sign of how things will go throughout the campaign.
“The raucous welcome into the gubernatorial race is indicative of both the vitriol Craig will face and the support he’ll garner.”
Patricia Pulliam, a 77 year old lifelong Democrat told the Detroit News she’s backing Craig.
“I have respect for him,” Pulliam said during the protest delay. “He took care of this city as police chief and would take care of the state as governor. You can have a difference of opinion,” she said, offended by the protestors, “but the language?”
Here are the viewership numbers for the Chief’s announcement, according to TV Eyes:
Total National Viewership: 5,237,414
Total National Publicity Value: $345,687.48
Total Local Viewership: 6,031,084
Total Local Market Publicity Value: $357,911.05
Total Station Reach: 19,172,500
