State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith confirmed Friday that, as expected, she is joining the crowded 2010 race for governor of Michigan. She previously staged a short-lived bid for the same office in 2002.

Smith, whose state House district includes the eastern Michigan city of Ypsilanti, is the third Democrat to enter the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm. She joins Lt. Gov. John Cherry and George Perles, a former head football coach at Michigan State University and now an elected trustee of that school who has publicly stated he plans to run.

Cherry is considered the early favorite for the Democratic nomination, having served alongside Granholm for both her two terms.

Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land announced Thursday that she is not going to enter the already crowded 2010 race for governor.

The unexpected move by Land -- who was widely assumed to be a candidate in the open-seat race -- came with another surprise, as she endorsed one of the declared Republican contenders: Michael J. Bouchard, the sheriff of populous Oakland County in suburban Detroit and a former state senator, who was the GOP's unsuccessful challenger to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2006.

Bouchard on June 3 officially launched his campaign for the 2010 contest to choose the successor to two-term Democratic incumbent Jennifer M. Granholm, who is barred from running again under Michigan's term-limit law.