SWORD FIGHT

Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner (D), running in 2020 for county executive in the primary against current county executive Dave Coulter (D), is feeling pretty, pretty good these days, with a new poll and fundraising numbers looking strong for him. But we politicos know we have to look at the long game. First, the money. Right now, no question, Meisner is in the lead against Coulter, raising over $110,000 this quarter and $680,142 since announcing his run in March 2019. Coulter, who was appointed the day after late exec L. Brooks Patterson's funeral in mid-August, only decided he'd run for re-election in October; for two months of fundraising in the last quarter, he raised $216,571. Meisner is also touting an early poll which shows he has an early 33 percent-to-19 percent lead over Coulter – with 53 percent never having heard of Meisner and 61 percent never having heard of Coulter. Meisner keeps calling it an “independent” poll, but in actuality, the poll, conducted by Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners, was done on behalf of the Carpenter's union, which has given money to Meisner, although it hasn't endorsed. The poll was done using cell phones. While it's definitely better to be up than down, with almost six months until the August 4 primary, it's still anyone's primary to win – or lose.