After withdrawal of three primary opponents and a $2-millionplus TV ad campaign that gave him a surge in polls, wealthy businessman Dick DeVos clearly is the Republican nominee-in-waiting to oppose Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Is Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, whose support in the party establishment is rapidly expanding, the presumptive challenger of Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow?

No. But Bouchard, whose primary opponents are the Reverends Keith Butler and Jerry Zandstra, was proclaimed last week by GOP State Chairman Saul Anuzis "as of today 'probably the leading candidate.'" Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, a GOP presidential hopeful, endorsed him Friday as the party's "best chance" to beat Stabenow.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) has been helping Bouchard raise money, and Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is among those who encouraged Bouchard to run.

Butler, a former Detroit councilman, has rapped the establishment "cabal" that he contends recruited Bouchard.

Butler said Friday he has the support of Oklahoma Senators James Inhofe and Tom Coburn, as well as Michigan U.S. Representatives Dave Camp, Joe Knollenberg, Candice Miller, Mike Rogers, Joe Schwarz, and Fred Upton.

The Bouchard camp says that one of Butler's state lawmaker supporters, Senator Laura Toy of Livonia, will switch to Bouchard this week.

Zandstra, on leave from a Grand Rapids think tank, yelped about Anuzis' comments, saying he should either resign "or apologize and cease to support" Bouchard.

Anuzis said he was "insulted" by Zandstra's "public tirade foolishness," and emphasized he was only responding to a question from the Lansing-based MIRS newsletter for an assessment on the primary, in which he is making no endorsement.

Good for Anuzis - a rare party leader who is willing to be candid about a candidate who's leading today, but may or may not be tomorrow.

Allen's War Chests

No state legislator has amassed a bigger political action committee fund for the 2006 election cycle than Senator Jason Allen (RTraverse City), according to last week's fund-raising tally of the state's top 150 PACs by the watchdog Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

Among individual Lansing politicians, the $173,200 raised for Allen's Republican Victory Committee is second only to the $482,960 raised in the January 2005 to April 2006 period by Governor Jennifer Granholm's Leadership Fund.

Granholm, Allen, and other politicians use such PACs to contribute to other politicians - a time-honored process at the state and national levels to not only help a party, but also gain chits.

Allen out-raised House Speaker Craig DeRoche, Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, and two senators expected to compete with Allen in the bid to replace Sikkema as leader of Senate Republicans next year.

Among the top 150 PACs, Allen's Republican Victory Committee ranked 27th on a list dominated by Republican and Democratic Senate/House campaign committees and such lobby powerhouses as the Michigan Education Association, and committees of business, labor, trial lawyers, and other interest groups who contribute to candidates.

In addition, the relatively new Allen Majority Fund, with $29,732, ranked 147th.

Asked about any differences in Allen's two committees, his office said, "both are about maintaining (a Republican) majority" in the Senate.

Each, of course, could help Allen's quest to become majority leader.

McCain Visit

Arizona Senator John McCain, likely contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, plans to speak June 10 late afternoon at Charlevoix County's Boyne Mountain and early evening in Iron Mountain. Earlier, it was expected that McCain would speak in Escanaba, but his state supporters said Friday district party leaders agreed on the Iron Mountain site.

McCain's PAC is expected to contribute at least $100,000 among all of the state's county and district organizations.

Another presidential prospect, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has a $350,000 PAC committed to Michigan.

Bush Responder: Stupak

Six-term U.S. Representative Bart Stupak (D-Menominee), as his party's designated Saturday responder to President George W. Bush's weekly radio address, said the GOP approach to soaring gas prices is "let's just drill our way to energy independence, sacrifice our environment, and provide big tax breaks to big oil."

In contrast, Stupak insisted, Democrats "want to implement bold changes that ease consumers' pain today, and, in the longer term, wean America from its addiction to foreign oil."

For decades, going back to the 1970s Arab oil embargo, politicians, at times of soaring prices, have engaged in pump politics - to no avail for motorists.

George Weeks recently retired after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.