Michigan Moves Ahead On Primary Switch
Michigan state senators voted today to move their presidential primary to Jan. 15, flouting attempts by the national parties to impose parameters on the voting schedule even as the Democratic National Committee prepares to punish such actions this Saturday.
Senators voted to approve Senate Bill 624 after amending it to require the state to hold its presidential primary on Jan. 15. The bill now goes to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. If it passes there, as expected, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) has indicated she will likely sign it.
The legislative action is all but certain to set of a series of essentially automatic changes to the nation's political calendar even as the race for the White House is already well underway.
Political leaders in Iowa and New Hampshire, who jealously guard their status as the first presidential contests every four years, have vowed to respond by moving their own voting up as far as necessary to retain their position.
That could mean that voting will begin in 2007 for the 2008 presidential election. The uncertainty has scrambled the political calculations for strategists in both parties as they attempt to plan for how to schedule their candidates and spend their money.
Meanwhile, the two national political parties are having little luck gaining control over the process. As in previous years, efforts to cajole or punish states is being met with indifference.
In the hopes of changing that dynamic, national Democratic leaders are preparing to send a harsh message to their White House candidates this weekend: campaign in Florida at your own risk.
In an effort to punish the Sunshine State for holding it's presidential primary earlier than the approved Feb. 5 date (Florida lawmakers moved the contest to Jan. 29), the DNC's rules committee is expected to proclaim the state off-limits to campaigning. Anyone who campaigns there would lose their delegates.
But the threat -- which is likely to be approved this Saturday -- hardly appears to be stopping the calendar insurrection among state leaders who are seeking relevance in the presidential nominating process.
Michigan officials have said they are less concerned with sanctions from the party and more interested in making sure the candidates confront issues important to the people in their state.
"We should not let political gamesmanship and special interest pandering detract us from this national spotlight," said the state's Republican Party chairman. "Let's keep the focus where is should be: on a bipartisan discussion about what's best for the people of Michigan."
--Michael D. Shear
Posted at 1:03 PM ET on Aug 22, 2007
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Posted by: aarondickerson | August 22, 2007 9:53 PM
Bring it on! The national committees are all bluster. There is no way the eventual nominee's delegates from any sanctioned state will not be seated in the convention. And there is no way any candidate with serious potential is going to cede states the size of Florida and Michigan by boycotting them in favour of South Carolina and Nevada.
This has been coming for a long-time and the national committees have brought this chaos upon themselves.
Posted by: BigWig | August 22, 2007 2:20 PM
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I agree that the system is broken, but the way that Fl, MI, and SC are going about this is dangerous...they are all assuming that there will be a nominee when the convention rolls around, but there is a very good chance that the nomination will still be up for grabs....if this is the case, these states will have no delegation seated at the convention and loose the very influence that they are seeking with these moves... I think that the best solution is one offered by former Senator Bob Grahm...he has proposed that the country be split into 5 regions, and that each region has the opportunity to be first on a revolving basis, and there is at least one month between each regions primary, not unlike College Footballs Bowl Championship Series. I think that this would promote fairness, and also decrease some of the medias influence in selecting the nominees. The trick would be to get crybabies Iowa and New Hampshire to go along with it.