Heat's on in Michigan GOP primary

[ccharles000]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40309.html

With Michigan’s Aug. 3 primary election less than a week away, the GOP race for governor is ending with a flourish.

Three Republicans are locked in a tense battle for the party nomination: Attorney General Mike Cox, Rep. Pete Hoekstra and former Gateway Chief Executive Rick Snyder. A Detroit News poll last week showed Cox and Hoekstra neck and neck, while Snyder lagged by 6 points. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and state Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo pull up the rear.

But the tightly packed field received a jolt Monday evening when an alleged witness — a man identified in the local media as having an extensive criminal background — signed an affidavit saying that Cox, then a Wayne County prosecutor, attended an infamous, long-rumored 2002 party hosted by Detroit’s then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Cox, who investigated the alleged stripper-filled party in his role as attorney general and dismissed it as an “urban legend,” vigorously denies attending the party and contends that political motivations were behind the last-minute allegations.