Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Michigan Primary today… Democratic Debate in Nevada tonight
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
Matt asked last week Will Michigan Matter? We probably won’t find that out today but we will find out what the disenfranchised Michigan Democratic voters decide to do.
I’ve seen several different proposals on what we may see today. The first is very low voter turnout on the Democratic side. This is pretty much a given as any votes made for the Democrats will be ignored as far as delegates are concerned.
With only Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel on the ballot will people give a token vote to Kucinich? Will Hillary win in a landslide? Any write-ins for Obama or Edwards will automatically be thrown out so what will their supporters do?
Another option is to vote “Uncommitted” If 15% of the vote goes to Uncommitted some of the delegates will be divided between the candidates not on the ballot.
And last but not least, Markos Moulitsas from Daily Kos has an interesting idea…. vote for Mitt Romney.
With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don’t we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?
For Michigan Democrats, the Democratic primary is meaningless since the DNC stripped the state of all its delegates (at least temporarily) for violating party rules. Hillary Clinton is alone on the ballot.
But on the GOP side, this primary will be fiercely contested. John McCain is currently enjoying the afterglow of media love since his New Hamsphire victory, while Iowa winner Mike Huckabee is poised to do well in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, poor Mitt Romney, who’s suffered back-to-back losses in the last week, desperately needs to win Michigan in order to keep his campaign afloat. Bottom line, if Romney loses Michigan, he’s out. If he wins, he stays in.
And we want Romney in, because the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us. We want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan.
The Democratic Debate from Nevada can be seen at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC
The debate, which is cosponsored by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, IMPACTO, 100 Black Men of America, the African American Democratic Leadership Council and the College of Southern Nevada, will include issues important to communities of color and will be telecast live by MSNBC at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 15th from 6:00 8:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.
Nevada, the second state in the nation to hold a presidential caucus and the first in the West to host an early window nominating contest, was chosen as an early state in part because 40 percent of its population is minority.
Posted by Oreo at 6:49 AM 
In Flint, voter turnout seemed pretty high. Most of the people I know who usually vote Democratic are voting in the Republican primary today, since that’s allowed in Michigan. They are also very angry, and it will be interesting to see how the Democratic party’s move to disenfranchise Michigan’s Democrats affects voting in November.
I usually vote Democratic, and was planning to vote Democratic in the general election, but am no longer planning to. If the Democratic party is willing to ignore the voices of all of Michigan in the election, I don’t know how I can trust them to listen to our voices if they are running the country. If the Democrats can’t compromise amongst themselves when Michigan’s votes are at stake, I don’t know how I can trust them to compromise when it’s called for in negotiating with other world leaders. But most of all, if the Democrats don’t feel that selecting their nominee needs to follow a democratic process that lets everybody have a say, I don’t think I can trust them to protect my right to vote. And that’s the most important right in a democracy.
If you’re as angry and disillusioned as I am and want ideas for making your voice heard, see WhoStoleMiVote.org
Scott (I think that’s your name, the bright orange title of your post is covering your name)
The whole mess with Florida and Michigan is really unfortunate!!
I don’t understand why they couldn’t have come to some sort of compromise with the DNC instead of having an election with only 2 candidates on the ballot.
Maybe Granholm knew that if HRC had no competition, she’d actually be able to win the state?
I feel bad about what has happened in Michigan and Florida, but I couldn’t vote for the RePubLik Party under any circumstances.
If HRC wins the nomination though, you’d better believe I will support any efforts to get that Unity08 ticket established!
I’m sorry, but NO to Hillary!
I’m from Florida and I’m strongly thinking of going Republican. If our State is not important enough to come and state your case then I don’t need you. You get none of my money if you don’t come here either. So I can’t wait to hear more from the Republicans or maybe in a perfect world a Democrat might “cross the line”.
Scott you are a REPUBLICAN.
What are all this REBUBLICAN voters trying to do here? They are trying to make you think that change to the Republican party is ok!! No more corruption in the White House. VOTE DEMOCRAT.
As a Florida registered Democrat, I just want to say that not counting the Florida delegates in the primary would be completely unacceptable. If Obama wins the nomination fair and square with all the Florida primary votes counted, I will probably vote for him. However, if Obama receives the Democratic nomination without the Florida delegates counted, under no circumstances will I vote for him. Instead, I will abstain, vote for an independent, or even seriously consider voting Republican. I am sure many other Florida democrats plan the same action, especially after what happened with Al Gore in 2000!