BRETT MOUNTAIN

hen you have more than 2,300
Facebook friends and another
3,000 or so email pals, you've basi-
cally got a voting bloc.
So when a pair of dressed-
down curious students crashed an
(organizational meeting where Brad
"Bubba" Urdan announced his bid
for state representative in the newly
carved out 39th State House District in
2012, he didn't betray a bit of discomfort.
On the contrary, Urdan acted as if they
would be as much an asset to him as the
20 or so impeccably tanned and suited
lawyers and businessmen who gathered
in a spectacular Southfield boardroom to
listen to his pitch for money and ideas.
In a company polo shirt stretched over
his considerable girth, Urdan looked every
bit the Everyman. During that half-hour
in mid-September, he showed that that
might be his greatest political gift: the
ability to talk to everybody.
"Phillip," Urdan intoned, addressing
a dapper Phillip Fisher, who lent his of-
fice for the event. "Your father (the late
industrialist/philanthropist Max Fisher)

WI

Political neophyte
Brad "Bubba" Urdan
wants a seat
in the legislature
and sees his chance
in the newly carved
39th State House
district.

By Julie Edgar

18 November 2011 I

RED mum

was a master statesman." And, glancing
heavenward as if summoning Max's ghost,
he added, "To get just a little help from
Max, that's why we asked to hold the press
conference here."
Dramatic, perhaps, but a revealing
glimpse of Urdan's ambition. He views
himself as a Republican candidate with
vision who will move Lansing out of its
rut, get the job done for one and all, and
attract Democrats and Independents to his
cause by sheer likeability and finesse.
Perhaps that may be why guys like Brian
Elias of Hanson Windows, Bob Stone of
Telemus Capital, Daniel Stern of Lonnax
Stern, Zaid Elia of the Elia Group, and
Weight Watchers International COO
Hannan Lis (a Democrat!) joined Urdan
around the gleaming lacquered table that
afternoon.
"We have a bank account that's empty,"
Urdan, 41, announced, saying the cam-
paign needs $200,000 to $250,000 to get
through next August's Republican primary.
He asked everybody to kick in money, and
to include a "Bubba for Michigan" logo on
their Facebook pages when and if they have

Facebook accounts. Oh, he told them, he's
legally changing his first name to "Bubba,"
a nickname given to him by an elementary
school bully that stuck. The name, he said,
will distinguish him from 21-year-old Brad
Hantler, who has also filed to run as a
Republican in the same district.
"Where do I write a check?" asked
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, executive director of
Southfield-based Yeshiva Beth Yehudah,
who later compared Urdan to Repubican
Gov. Rick Snyder.
'When the current governor was running
he was asked how he was going to make
his plan happen. He said, 'These are the
right things to do, and we're going to frame
it that way.' Given that he needs people in
Lansing who are forward thinking, and
given that people are looking to make sure
Michigan is a place people can live and
work, Bubba can do it," said Mayerfeld.
Hammer on issues dear to the Jewish
community, like property values, education
and law enforcement, Lis advised.
"You've got to find one or two issues in
your local district," he told Urdan. "Knock
on every doorf

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