EAST LANSING - Republicans meeting at their state convention Saturday altered their agenda, allowing for the nomination of state Rep. Brian Calley as lieutenant governor and Rick Snyder's running mate shortly before noon.
The tea party movement from west Michigan nominated Bill Cooper to run against Calley as an alternative to Snyder's choice for running mate and a small business complement to Snyder's big business experience.
Delegates, by a show of hands, were divided in their choice and the convention leadership said the campaigns had agreed to a show of hands as opposed to written ballots, which one official told the crowd were not available.
Delegates called for a roll call vote. The option of a stand-up count agreed to by the tea party was rejected by other delegates, causing a brief lull in the convention's momentum while convention leaders tried to broker a compromise.
Cooper took the podium to thank delegates for tea party support and for being allowed to speak. He then asked delegates to support Snyder and Calley as his running mate.
"There were more hands raised for Brian Calley," said Cooper, who removed his name from the ballot and asked delegates to change the nominating process after the Nov. 2 election if they didn't like the current process.
The voice vote was equally loud for Calley and Cooper, but Calley was deemed to be the unanimous nominee.
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