Its been awhile since I've done a diary strictly on the Michigan Governor's race and a lot has changed, some people have gotten in the race, a few look less likely to run, and others are being talked about.
Jennifer Granholm is not really well liked, being viewed as having bungled Michigan's economy with her film tax credit being the closest thing to successful. Into this environment most of the top Republican names are talking about running while most of the big name Democrats, save LG John Cherry have demured (most notably former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer).
The Democrats who are running (or pretty close to it)
LG/ex-State Senate Minority Leader John Cherry
State Representative/ex-State Senator Alma Wheeler Smith
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackell
Michigan State Trustee/ex-MSU Football coach/Motor City Bowl CEO George Perles
ex-Flint Mayor Don Williamson (people mention that he's dropped out of the race but most sources still list him as running)
Possible Democratic Candidates
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano
State House Speaker Andy Dillon
State Representative Kate Elbi
Genesse County Treasurer Dan Kildee
Republican Candidates who are running (or pretty close to it)
Attorney General Mike "Weasel Boy" Cox
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land
State Senator/medical doctor Tom George
Retiring Congressman Peter Hoekstra
Venture Capitalist/ex-Gateway Computers COO Rick Snyder ( http://www.crainsdetroit.com/... ) - who's apparently taking on the mantle of "The Guy Who Understands How to Get the State Employed"
Potential Republican Candidates
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (he was talking pretty heavily about it around the beginning of the year but that's cooled way down, and he will be 72 in 2010 so his age is a factor)
Dominos Pizza CEO/ex-University of Michigan Regent David Brandon
ex-Congressman/ex-State Senate President Pro Tempore/Medical Doctor Joseph Schwartz
THe Democrats Running
John Cherry has to be the overall favorite with maybe some chance to Hackell or Wheeler Smith. On the plus side he has run statewide twice before as part of a ticket with Granholm but on the minus side he's connected with the unpopular Michigan Business Tax and Granholm's regularly cutting University funding. Perles is a bit of a joke and if a miracle occurred and he was the nominee he'd be easily defeated. If he is indeed running WIlliamson is even more of a joke as he had to resign as Mayor Flint to avoid a recall. With the possible exception of Ficano I don't see any of the potential candidates running, and Ficano would have very real liabilities in both the primary and the general elections.
The Republicans running
Cox and Land have both been elected statewide twice, with Land coming off as better than Cox (Cox had a weird incident involving an extra marital affair on his part and some involvement in that story by well known Michigan trial lawyer Geoffrey "Jack Kevorkian's ex-attorney" Figer). But Cox is a political street fighter who will get nastier than Land has had to deal with in previous elections. Hoekstra and George are both legislative figures on the West side of the state (where most of the Republican party base in Michigan exists, outside of Muskegon and Kalamazoo which are more Democratic), neither of which ever made an impression on me personally. Snyder just started talking about this race a few days ago and to his credit he's been involved with a number of efforts to get people back to work (like the Ann Arbor SPARK organization) and would probably be able to put a lot of money into the race. Patterson was heavily talking about running for Governor in January but since then there has been no word on him doing it. If Patterson did run it would be a bloody primary as Patterson is beloved in Oakland County but is hated by the Right to Life crowd and by former Michigan GOP party chairwoman Betsy Devos (and the feeling is mutual by Patterson toward both parties). For that reason alone I kind of hope he runs, though he'd be the hardest to beat in a general election (despite repeated alcohol related incidents throughout Patterson's career including a "He was probably driving drunk but they never gave him a breathalyzer test" incident about 6-7 years ago).
Edited to add: Thanks to MenhentheDem I know of a recent poll that the Detroit Free Press ran. It showed Cherry performing badly against 3 of the potential Gopers and can be found at http://www.freep.com/... or discussed on Swing State Project at http://www.swingstateproject.com/...