LANSING – Governor Rick Snyder is getting an early start on his re-election campaign with the launch Wednesday of a two-week television advertising blitz touting his record in office.

Snyder continued to insist Tuesday that he has not formally announced his candidacy for a second term in refusing to answer questions about the ad, which is a 60-second condensed version of the “One Successful Nerd” video he unveiled Friday at the Republican Party’s Mackinac Island conference. The ad will air on network and cable television and is a “significant” buy, said John Yob, consultant to Snyder’s campaign committee.

“I’m not an announced candidate. I’m happy being governor. I’m focused on being governor,” he told reporters when asked at an unrelated event about the soon-to-air ad. “When I’m a candidate, I’m happy to talk about campaign matters.”

Asked why he would refuse to talk about ads he is airing, Snyder said: “I’m not going to get into speculation because one question leads to another. There’s nothing on the air at this moment.”

However, Snyder’s campaign committee later released a prepared statement from the governor announcing the ad, which lays out the governor’s accomplishments.

“Simply put, we said it, and we did it,” Snyder said in the statement.

The ad, like the video, also begins to sketch the outlines of a second-term agenda for Snyder, discussing a greater emphasis on vocational training, lowering the cost of college degrees and aiding Michigan companies help other Michigan companies grow.

“Michigan’s reinvention will continue and Michigan is indeed coming back,” Snyder said in the statement.

The campaign of Snyder’s presumptive Democratic rival, former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, had three different strains of reaction.

The first was hope, asserting that Snyder’s highly unusual move to begin airing ads more than 13 months before the election is a sign the governor is worried about his re-election prospects. Even billionaire Dick DeVos, with his record spending on the 2006 governor’s race, waited until February of the election year to begin his advertising assault.

“This just shows that Rick Snyder is running scared,” said Schauer for Governor campaign manager BJ Neidhardt in a statement. “It’s unprecedented for an incumbent to be spending money on a political ad more than a year before an election. It’s clear candidate Snyder is desperate to repair the damage he’s done to his own brand by slashing funding from local schools, and raising taxes on seniors and working families to pay for a $1.8 billion corporate tax cut. We need a new direction in Lansing, and Mark Schauer is the leader we need to protect the middle class and help small businesses create jobs.”

The Democratic Governors Association, which has promised to aid Schauer, had similar comments.

The second reaction was derision of Snyder insisting he is not yet a candidate. Schauer spokesperson Zack Pohl said in a post from his Twitter account, “If you’re circulating petitions and spending money on TV ads, you’re a candidate.”

But the third appeared to be concern of what heavy television spending this soon must mean about the money Snyder has available for a campaign.

Neidhardt emailed Democratic supporters urging them to donate to Schauer’s campaign. “It’s clear we are going to need to have urgent resources in to make sure that we will be able to go toe-to-toe now through Election Day,” he said.

The general thinking in the Snyder camp about going on television now is that Mr. Snyder has gained some momentum in polls, a sense the economy has improved and has raised enough money to afford it, so it is a display of strength.

But the move surprised political consultants. Democratic political consultant Joe DiSano of Main Street Strategies called it “a massive admission of weakness” from Snyder about his re-election prospects.

“No campaign that’s in a strong position is spending this kind of money 14 months out,” he said. “I think the goal here is to bring back some of that shine among middle of the road voters that he’s lost the past three years. That’s got to be the one and only goal of doing something like this.”

DiSano said Mr. Snyder probably would see a minor bump in his numbers, but the ads would struggle to be more effective because they are so far away from the election. He said the move offers Schauer a good fundraising pitch – he has Mr. Snyder on the run and is a good investment.

“Mark Schauer’s not going to hit the panic button,” he said. “And anyone who thinks Mark Schauer is doesn’t understand or know the man.”

Republican consultant Dan McMaster of Grassroots Midwest said the move surprised him, but must mean Mr. Snyder has raised considerable money.

One possibility is that Snyder is testing how his message resonates and will see if it moves the polls. McMaster noted that a focus group could accomplish the same goal for much less money. It also could be a signal to a possible primary challenger and Schauer about how much money the governor has raised.

“One thing this shows is clearly they have money,” he said.

Still, there is no real downside to the move, McMaster said, other than to spend two week’s worth of money.

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