Snyder endorses rival Hoekstra for Senate

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder endorsed former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., today for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Hoekstra hopes to unseat Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., in the 2012 elections.

Snyder defeated Hoekstra in the gubernatorial primary last year, but the healed-rivalry angle shouldn’t obscure the real election significance of the endorsement: Hoekstra, a West Michigan Republican with a solidly social conservative base, now has increased cachet in the very populous and more socially moderate southeast Michigan, thus resolving the weakness that caused him to lose the statewide campaign for governor.