Snyder campaign ad hails governor as an accountant

LANSING – Gov. Rick Snyder's re-election campaign returns to the airwaves today with a low-key, 60-second ad that stresses Michigan's improved economic prospects since Snyder took office in 2011.

The ad — which, like previous Snyder TV spots, was produced by Strategic Perception, the Hollywood, Calif., firm headed by Fred Davis — opens with choir music and a rolling, wooded stretch of two-lane highway near Petoskey.

Then there's a close-up of Snyder, who narrates the entire ad, wearing a collarless shirt and speaking into the camera.

"I'm an accountant — and your governor," Snyder says. "I've found I can help more people when the numbers add up."

As the ad flashes to shots of Detroit skyscrapers and an auto assembly line, Snyder says Michigan "was once the engine that drove America," but the state didn't change with the times and "we let politics get in the way."

Now, "we're on the road to recovery for every Michigander," he says. "You might not feel it yet, but you will soon."

The ad appears to be partly a response to Democratic challenger Mark Schauer's message in his campaign's first TV ad that Snyder's economy "might work for the wealthy, but it's not working for the rest of Michigan."

Though Snyder touts numbers such as the reduced unemployment rate, he acknowledges not all Michigan residents are feeling the recovery. There's no mention of the "comeback kid" or "comeback state" — early campaign themes that have received mixed receptions. The ad also doesn't feature the "one tough nerd" moniker that Davis used in Snyder's first Super Bowl ad in 2010, which the governor still uses as his official Twitter handle.

Snyder has repeatedly said it's not important to him who gets credit for solutions to Michigan's problems, but that rule is bending under the demands of an election campaign.

"The credit never goes to the person who built a strong foundation, but that's what you have to do first," Snyder says in the ad.

"And that's why we have accountants."

Polls show a close race between Snyder and Schauer as the governor campaigns for a second four-year term.

The Snyder and Schauer campaigns — along with groups that support them such as the Republican and Democratic governors associations — have booked millions of dollars in TV time through Election Day, meaning Michiganders can expect nonstop ads until Nov. 4.

Schauer spokeswoman Cathy Bacile Cunningham said the ad is "confirmation that Republican Rick Snyder's policies aren't working for the middle class," and "Michigan needs a governor who will build an economy that works for everyone."

Paul Egan is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press.