The start of the morning was not swift. In my own polling precinct we were the only voters. In half an hour of voting the machine appeared to have registered 7 votes. There were 4 poll workers there, plus my wife and myself to vote. Yes, its a lively time in the Democrat stronghold of Ann Arbor, MI. And evidently our snow covered town wasn't the only one with such an experience. From The Detroit Free Press:
THE SCENE: So empty you would have thought it was a school board election in the dead of summer. Line? Nope. Underwhelmed election workers? Yup. One person was voting for Precinct 19. Two people had arrived for Precinct 11. The count in the ol’ 11 at the time: Four people had taken Republican ballots. The Democrats were sleeping in.
The Democrats miscalculated here.
The past week here in Michigan, much of the local news I've heard on NPR has been about the visiting Republican candidates. They've been talking about jobs and the economy, the auto business, and other issues concerning Michigan. They've visited the auto show in Detroit and have evidently made themselves known in the other cities, such as Lansing
Republican candidates have spent a week racing around Michigan scrambling for votes.
Today, the state's voters weigh in with ballots that could reshape the GOP race.
and the headline in The Ann Arbor News was "Republicans woo Michigan voters".
and from the AP article in the Mining Journal
Mitt Romney and John McCain clashed over their concern for the auto industry, while Mike Huckabee spotlighted his opposition to abortion, as the Republican presidential contenders campaigned Saturday before Michigan’s potentially make-or-break primary.
Michigan's not seen the best of times lately, the unemployment rate here is one of the highest in the nation. Detroit continues to lose people and jobs at an alarming rate. The state government continues to tighten its belt as needed infrastructure projects languish. And, if I were a neutral MI voter hearing all these things being said by the Republicans about the issues the average worker is concerned with, I might be convinced of their message. Especially since there's no rebuttal coming from the other side. Well, almost no rebuttal, in fairness I spotted this from The Ann Arbor News
The lone Democratic presidential candidate campaigning in the state drew an overflow crowd to the University of Michigan campus Monday.
Revving up supporters the day before Michigan voters go the polls, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich told the 400 to 500 people who packed a campus auditorium that they could send a send a powerful message by giving him their votes.
But Kucinich doens't generally attract much media attention, even when he's the only one running in the state unfortunately. The result has been an absolute windfall of local media attention in the state on the speeches and events held by the Republican candidates running here. And the national media hasn't been much of a different story, as the The Free Press states, "The Democratic primary has had virtually no interest nationwide".
To add to the overwhelming Republican dominance of the media, the revocation of names from the ballot has stung. Obama and Edwards didn't have to pull their names off the ballot, noone required this of them. The reasons I've heard are either that they sought to pander to two tiny states and their privledged status or that they feared a dominating Clinton win here since they were not allowed to campaign. Neither of those reasons shows them in a particularly good light. Wasn't it enough to take away the delegates? Personally this made me a Dodd supporter. I'm not alone in resenting the shortened ballot either, according to (link broken)The Grand Rapids Press
DETROIT--The absence of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's name from today's Michigan Democratic primary ballot has angered a large swath of black voters here.
They already are unhappy about state's new voter ID law and the 2006 referendum that barred affirmative action in public sector hiring.
Now, their frustrations are heightened by not being able to vote, on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, for the first black candidate in serious contention for a major party presidential nomination.
This has been a bad experience all around for the Democrat Party. Lots of people are responsible for getting this train wreck to its current location, inside Michigan and nationally. The Republican party was able to strike a comprise between penalizing a rule breaking state and still maintaining some of its relevance while Democrat leaders were unable to make such an arrangement. The result is a publicity advantage to the Republicans.
This is my first diary, so critiques are welcomed.