Michigan Primary

About Michigan's Primary:

Michigan’s’ Primary was changed recently and moved to a date earlier than Feb 5th the proverbial “Super Tuesday”. Michigan’s Primary (open primary) will now occur on January 15th. This change has provoked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to blacklist Michigan’s primary. Michigan has been told not to bother sending its 156 Democratic National Convention delegates to Denver, where hotel rooms have been taken away. Both Republicans and Democrats lost delegates as a punishment for moving up Michigan's presidential primary to Jan. 15. This is yet another game in the political machine and politics.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) told Michigan Republicans that they would lose half of their nominating delegates at their convention. The Democratic National Committee said Florida and Michigan would have to forfeit their delegates at the convention for moving their primaries before February 5. The Democratic candidates responded by supporting the DNC by vowing not to campaign in Michigan and Florida during the primary. Republican candidates continue to visit and run ads in Michigan.

In Michigan’s the Democratic Party's ballot, you will notice four of the party's candidates do not appear on the primary ballot, this includes candidates John Edwards and Barrack Obama. The candidates voluntarily withdrew from Michigan's primary. As it stands Michigan is unofficially down to 59 delegates to send to the DNC. However, Hillary Clinton has stuck it out and remains on Michigan’s ballot. The unofficial reason for the primary change is because Michigan is experiencing what many consider a one state recession and by moving the primary Michigan hopes to gain more influence in the selection of the next presidential candidate while bringing national attention to Michigan’s economic struggles.

Michigan’s manufacturing struggles and economic downturn forces the state to become even more involved and bring focus on International politics and policies. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation (7.4%) and citizens are moving out of Michigan in record numbers while Michigan’s Wayne County (Detroit) experiences the difficulty in exporting vehicles and watching plant closures continue to hurt Michigan. Michigan’s Wayne County is also starting to lead the nation in home foreclosures and Democrats have chosen to ignore over 1 million voters in this particular county over “primary politics”. Since the change of Michigan’s primary, their hopes of shifting focus on international politics and trade issues may have back fired and Michigan could lose some of its voice and media exposure although this is unlikely.

Since Michigan has been black listed on the democratic side voters of Michigan can enjoy not being bombarded by ads, calls or flyers to support the democrats other than Hillary Clinton who again went against party politics and continues to run ads. Since a majority of democratic candidates have chosen to pull their names off Michigan’s primary there is a big push to vote uncommitted with uncommitted currently rating at 33% according to an Epic MRA poll as of 1/12/08 . So, either democrats vote for Hillary Clinton or they vote uncommitted.

The Democratic political machine in Michigan should be furious, The reason being Republicans such as McCain and Romney are taking out ads and talking to Michigan voters while providing the “we feel your pain speech’ while Mitt continues to talk about his dad and his roots in Michigan although he moved away. Furthermore, on a national level Democrats were poised to win overwhelming in the presidential race as they did in the previous congressional races. However, it may be slipping as the Iraq war loses steam and financial worries start to take precedence. A prime example is the GOP is slamming Michigan with ads and Democrats are losing out on face time.

Michigan’s political machine has retooled and changed primary dates, this will likely benefit Michigan in the future but not until 2012-13. However, if Michigan voters don’t express their disapproval for the DNC and RNC black listing, Michigan may see a repeat in the next presidential election after 2009. In the end the only people to immediately benefit from Michigan’s primary change is the Republican’s, Independents and most likely Hillary Clinton.