Cox - career lawyer who has never worked in the private sector.  One elected position but has been in Lansing for 8 years.  Most notable "big media" exposure is a toss-up between the Kilpatrick Manoogian mansion party and the whole "I cheated on my wife but Geoff Fieger is blackmailing me" soap opera.

Hoekstra - solid conservative from a conservative district.  Political junkies will be familiar with his valuable work on the Intelligence committee in the House but probably doesn't move the needle much for the general public.  No executive experience but a Washington insider for nearly 20 years.  

Bouchard - Elected official for nearly 20 years.  Well-known in SE Michigan though generally low profile (possibly eclipsed a bit by L. Brooks in Oakland county?).  Generally conservative but no recent legislative or executive record outside of the sheriff's department.

George - who?

Snyder - more on him in a minute.

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Now, IMHO, here's the "hot" issues list for your typical Michigan voter:

1.  Jobs
   
2.  The economy
   
3.  Jobs
   
4.  The economy
   
5.  Throw the freaking bums out
   
6.  The state budget / jobs / the economy
   
7.  Free-falling home values, which goes back to jobs and the economy
   
8.  Out of control government spending, including health care, etc.

So, in this environment, what do we see from the MI-GOP?  Two regional candidates in Hoekstra and Bouchard, as well as one statewide elected official in Cox.  Cox big claim to fame (rightly or wrongly) is the Manoogian mansion investigation.  And his admission that he couldn't keep it in his pants.  Wow, I'm fired up.

Hoekstra is, as noted, both a "Washington guy" and a regional candidate.  To my mind, I figure anyone in office for 20 years gets the "career politician" label.  While he has conservative principles, I didn't see him as a singular leader - a common failing of legislators running for executive positions, I think.

Bouchard - too low profile, another regional guy not well known outside the metro Detroit area.  Did a generally good job running the sheriff dept, which is something exactly no one cares about unless it directly affects them which is rare.

George - who?

That brings us to Snyder.  I think he represents a good deal of the "none of the above" vote.  

1.  Not a politician vs 3 guys who have on average 20 years in government jobs
   
2.  Has worked successfully in the private sector as head of a firm most people have at least heard of.
   
3.  Refused to get distracted from economic matters.

In all honesty, what is the difference between a Gov. Hoekstra, Gov. Bouchard, or Gov. Cox?  Not much, I think.

Snyder comes in, says "look, I'm not like these guys.  I'm not here to play "gotcha" debates, I'm not here to plan for my next elected position, I'm here to fix the screwed up Michigan economy.  I've run a big company, I know what it takes to get businesses in here, and I can fix what Jen-Jen and crew have screwed up.  So, you can vote for one of three guys that have been in government for the last 20 years and are basically interchangable, or you can vote for the outsider that knows how things work in the real world."

In what is shaping up to be a hugely anti-incumbent year, that is a winning message.

The key, as some have noted, is to win the downticket races and put a conservative legislative agenda in place.  Snyder is not perfect but he's also not going to veto or impede a commonsense legislative agenda, whereas Virg would be Jenny on steroids.