“Republicans for Whitmer.”

Wait a second. Shouldn’t that read “Democrats for Whitmer?”

Most assuredly not. D’s for Whitmer would not be a story.

R’s for her would.

Republican candidate for governor Tudor Dixon likes to say her party is unified, but she and almost the entire free world know that is about as far from reality as the Tigers making it to the World Series.

You have the huge Donald Trump wing over there, as the former president is now the unofficial chair of the Michigan GOP.

And then, way over in the middle of the political spectrum, you have those Republicans who don’t believe the election was stolen. You also have some GOP women who are none too pleased with Dixon’s desire to deny an abortion to victims of rape and incest. She does favor the procedure to save the life of the mother.

So, in a word, the state GOP is “fractured,” and limping along into the fall election.

Enter the conversation Republicans for Whitmer, designed on paper to win her votes and create an even deeper divide in the Republican Party.

Can you say kick ’em when they are down?

The phone rang the other day and, when the former state Senate Republican leader Randy Richardville picked it up, he immediately recognized the voice on the other end.

It might have gone like this:

“Hey, Randy. Gretchen here. Bet you’re surprised to hear from me.”

Despite whatever philosophical political differences the duo have, when he was the Senate Republican leader and she the Democratic leader, they found a way to cooperate on some issues and, while they had their days, on balance, you could watch them on the floor and it was clear they had fun, as they were often laughing and carrying on as two old friends would do.

Well, now, one of the old friends was asking for what Richardville described as a “big ask.” She wanted him to join a committee now in the formative stages of disaffected Republicans for the Democratic governor.

That is not a new idea, by the way.

When Gov. Jim Blanchard ran for a second term against neophyte Republican Bill Lucas, he formed Republicans for Blanchard and proceeded to nail down 68% of the statewide vote with the help of those maverick Republicans.

Jennifer Granholm dusted off the Blanchard playbook and formed Republicans for Granholm and — voila — it worked for her, too.

“It’s a great idea. It’s a strategy that is tried and true,” reports noted Michigan pollster Bernie Porn, who, as a campaign strategist back in the day on the House Democratic staff, used the scheme to great success.

The governor is painting Dixon’s political persona as radical on abortion, aid to non-public schools, and her undying allegiance to Donald Trump and his notion that he really should be president today.

Porn says the governor can exploit that.

“Anytime you have a candidate in the GOP such as Tudor Dixon who has an extreme position on abortion” and other issues, “I’m sure there are a host of Republican voters who would be willing to join such a Whitmer for Governor effort,” he says.

We’re about to discover if he is right, if this thing gets off the ground … minus Randy Richardville.