Former Kevorkian Attorney Leads Field for Governor Nod in Michigan

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was back in the news last week when HBO aired its movie about him ("You Don't Know Jack"), and so was his first defense attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, but for a different reason: a poll in Michigan showed that if he entered the Democratic primary race for governor, he would best the three announced candidates.

Fieger leads the field with 28 percent of the vote, followed by state House Speaker Andy Dillon at 21 percent, Lansing Mayor Virgil Benero at 10 percent and state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith at 4 percent, according to an EPIC-MRA poll conducted April 21 for the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV. Twenty-nine percent are undecided. The margin of error is 4.9 points.

Fieger first represented Kevorkian, who was put on trial several times for his doctor-assisted suicides, starting in 1994 and won four acquittals. Kevorkian was ultimately convicted in 1999 when he assisted in another death and chose to represent himself.

An unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1998, Fieger has till May 11 to get the 15,000 signatures he needs to get on the ballot, but while he said he's thinking about it, but he didn't sound hell-bent on making the race in an interview with the Free Press.

He told the Press that running for office was a depressing prospect. "I've been there, done that. It's not something I would wish on a lot of people," he said. Fieger said he'd make up his mind this week, according to the Detroit News.

A previous EPIC-MRA poll conducted earlier this month showed the three leading Republican contenders for governor running ahead of the two top Democratic hopefuls by significant margins.

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