Conservatives wait, wonder about Snyder By Leonard N. Fleming The Detroit News Rick Snyder says the conservatives are with him, but others say the moderate Republican gubernatorial candidate has work to do to make them feel comfortable supporting him. Still, Snyder, the Ann Arbor businessman who won his party's primar y over more conservative contenders , said he's not changing his strategy to win conservatives uneasy with his victory. And that gives pause to voters such as Doug Till of Kalamazoo . 'We really don't know much about him, and that's our biggest problem,' said Till, 60, a vice president and board member of the Southwest Michigan Tea Party. 'We asked him to come and talk with us during the campaign and he blew us off. He talks in generalities. We want specifics.' Conservatives have been a bedrock of support for Republican candidates, but Snyder's moderate points of view on social issues are creating uncertainty . Despite this, Snyder on Sunday won the endorsement of Michigan native Mitt Romney, a Republican contender in the 2008 presidential election. 'Rick Snyder is a successful businessman, manager and job creator, which makes him uniquely qualified to lead Michigan through these challenging times,' Romney said in a statement. Bolstering the economy and fostering job growth will eliminate many social issues that are a concern to conservatives who are wary of him , Snyder said. 'We've done very well with conservative voters already, and I think that's reflected in the success in the primary,' he said. 'The key is the path we've been on because the issues that really matter to the people are more and better jobs, and keeping our young people here,' Snyder said. 'And underlining that is to have a fiscally sound government.' Conservatives say sharing more of his social views, choosing a right-of-center running mate and meeting with them would help ease their concerns . When asked if he would ask a conservative to be his running mate, Snyder said his decision will be 'merit based. I'm looking for someone that agrees with our vision to reinvent Michigan and most importantly our value statement.' Recent polling seems to back Snyder's contention he can stick with what worked in the primary. A Detroit News-WDIV-TV post-primary poll showed that the Republican businessman has secured 86 percent of GOP voters and has a 3-to-1advantage with i ndependents. The poll also shows that among the key Republican constituency of those opposed to abortion, Snyder holds a 65.7 percent to 17.5 percent lead over his Democratic opponent, Virg Bernero, with 16.8 percent of those polled undecided. Nowhere else to go? 'If you're looking at engaging conservatives, it's all about picking up the phone, sharing with them more of his agenda and reaching out and asking for their help,' said retiring U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a conservative from Holland who placed second in the gubernatorial primary. 'I don't know if he is or not. He may believe he can get across the line without needing conservatives, that they have nowhere to go.' Till, who voted for Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard in the primary, said he wants to hear more details about how Snyder will foster job growth. 'I will vote for a third-party conservative candidate before I'm going to just blindly follow another moderate Republican who is gimmicky,' Till said. 'And if they want to blame me then if the wrong person is elected, I'm going to turn it back around on them and say no, you ran the wrong candidate that we couldn't support.' Bruce Crawford, 78, of Kalkaska supported Attorney General Mike Cox for governor. Crawford has 'somewhat of a concern' about Snyder because he's an unknown candidate and supports embryonic stem cell research. 'He needs to refine his position on the stem cell proposition,' Crawford said of Snyder. 'I think it would do him more good than harm if he would switch his position there,' Crawford said. Crawford said he doesn't see himself staying home, though, and he's open to supporting Snyder . 'He needs to get his exact stands out a little stronger and emphasize some of the other points that he knows is going to appeal to the conservative voters.' Abortion an issue Before the primary, Snyder wrote a newspaper opinion column that he was a 'strong pro-life, pro-family candidate' and he would never use state money to cover abortions. Barbara Listing, the Right to Life of Michigan president, said Snyder campaigned and probably won votes as an anti-abortion candidate although 'he didn't meet our standards of being pro-life.' The Right to Life PAC endorsed Cox, who placed third. Listing, who described herself as a single-issue voter, said Snyder's support of embryonic stem cell research would put him out of reach of getting Right to Life's endorsement and perhaps the votes of people like herself. John Yob, a Republican political consultant from Grand Rapids and a key Snyder advise r, wouldn't say whether there's a plan to attract conservatives for the general election, but that Snyder's strategy during the primary has most of them backing his candidate. 'The poll showed that a strong majority of pro-life voters are already supporting Rick so I think he's already got strong support from pro-life voters and conservative voters across the state,' Yob said. 'Rick is laser-focused on creating jobs. The more jobs we create and the better the economy does the less social problems the state will have.' State Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, said although Snyder is going against an opponent 'who's just terrible when it comes to our issues,' that doesn't guarantee conservatives are 'getting excited and getting out there and supporting Rick Snyder with their whole heart.' Cropsey said Snyder should select a more conservative running mate who's good on issues involving guns, abortion and economics. 'If he really wants to activate the conservative base, he needs to get somebody who's noted for being a good, solid conservative, not necessarily a movement conservative,' Cropsey said. 'Somebody that the conservatives would say this guy, this person is with us.' Online: Find more election reports, video, campaign ad analysis and more at detnews.com/elections. 