Snyder's office on Monday announced "A Conversation With the Governor," a series of informal discussions with various audiences across the state. The first-term Republican is expected to begin the series Tuesday in Grand Rapids, where he will discuss the "Healthy Michigan" initiative with Spectrum Health System employees and other stakeholders.

"The Healthy Michigan plan is vital to the health of our families and the economic success of our state. Unfortunately, Michigan now faces a sense of urgency to approve the plan in the light of the Senate's failure to vote before taking a summer vacation," Snyder said in a release announcing the talks.

But Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville declined to call an up-or-down vote in that chamber before lawmakers left town for summer break on Thursday, casting serious doubts about the fate of the expansion proposal. Richardville said caucus members need more time to consider the plan, noting that a House committee debated it for several weeks. He does not expect to convene another formal Senate session until late August.

Snyder, in an uncharacteristically charged Thursday afternoon press conference, called on Senate Republicans to "take a vote, not a vacation" and urged residents to "bug the living daylights" out of them. Waiting until the fall to consider the Medicaid expansion proposal would be unacceptable, he said, because of federal timelines for rollout.

This smacks of his campaign bus tour from last fall, which was for the specific purpose of defeating Proposals 12-5 and 12-6, though he was billing it as "one is yes, no on the rest" and couldn't even get 12-1 passed when the official canvass was done.

I don't think there's enough Syrup of Ipecac in this state to neutralize the poison that the Nerd King has introduced into the party brand.