Grapevine

By DAVID ELLIS/

CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL. It may be a long, hot summer for Governor Jim Blanchard of Michigan. Although the Democrat is locked in a tight race against Republican John Engler, the greatest damage to his campaign is expected to come from his ex-wife. Paula Blanchard has penned 'Til Politics Do Us Part, an account of the breakup of their 21-year marriage that the publisher says will < be "painfully honest." The book, which will be excerpted in the state's largest newspaper, deals with Jim Blanchard's rumored affair with former staff member Janet Fox, whom he married last year. Opponent Engler has better luck: his ex-wife Colleen has written of their breakup in A Matter of Trust, an account of her own 1986 campaign for Governor, but will delay publication until sometime after the election.

With reporting by David E. Thigpen