Virg Watch

A new poll released today shows Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero trailing rival House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, by just a hair at 11 percent to 13 percent — though the poll shows that 56 percent of those surveyed are undecided. State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Ypsilanti, got 6 percent, as did Dan Kildee, who dropped out of the governor’s race last Friday.

The poll was conducted by East Lansing based Denno-Noor Research, commissioned by the Rossman Group and the Perricone Group. It surveyed 205 voters statewide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percent. Respondents were asked, “If the election for governor of Michigan were being held today, which candidate do you think you would vote for?” The poll was conducted Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

When the same question was asked in a November poll. Dillon polled at 6 percent, Smith at 2 percent, and John Cherry had received 20 percent. Bernero and Kildee were not included.

Meanwhile, Bernero articulated Tuesday at least one idea he has for turning around the state’s economy. From the headquarters of the Cinda Corp. in northeast Detroit, Bernero said that the state should create its own bank so that loans can flow to students and small businesses. It is not a new idea: North Dakota operates its own bank, and, also on Tuesday, Senate Democrats released its own state bank plan.

In several appearances around the state this week: Bernero was at the Ingham County Democratic Party’s annual Mardi Gras celebration last Friday — and so was Dillon. According to the blog MichiganLiberal.com, Dillon at one point turned to Bernero and remarked,  “And one of us will win in November.” Bernero visited two other county Democratic Party functions recently: On March 3 he was with the Macomb County Democrats in Warren, and on Tuesday night, he was at a meeting of the Oakland County Democrats in his hometown of Pontiac.