Many of you will remember that the founder of this beloved web site, Markos, encouraged Michigan Democrats and Independents to crossover and vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary last month. This was based on two realities - first that the Michigan Democratic primary was a non-contest and second that a vote for Romney was actually a vote for the Democrats to get the White House.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win.
I suspect we are seeing the same effect based on the results of the Wisconsin primary. More below the fold.
First we should realize that even though Obama won the Wisconsin primary by 17 points, the exit polls indicate that the Democrats who voted in the primary gave it an even split (Obama-50, Clinton-49). Thus if it was a closed primary it would have been a dead heat, not a blow-out.
http://politics.nytimes.com/...
Second, we should realize that from the standpoint of Republicans and right leaning independents the GOP race is over and the motivation to vote in the GOP primary is low.
Third, we should realize that just like Markos for our side the other side can also cause mischief by crossing over to taint our nomination process. A must-read article from two days ago talks about this phenomenon, appearing in San Francisco's City Edition
http://thecityedition.com/...
Republican party activists have been organized by the G.O.P. to throw their weight behind Barack Obama, the democratic rival of frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Early in Obama's campaign, top Republican fundraisers flushed his coffers with cash, something the deep pockets hadn't done for any candidate in their own party.
Rank and file Republicans in red states have switched their party registrations, enabling them to vote in Democratic primaries. Some states, like Virginia and Texas, have open primaries, allowing citizens to vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation. In Nebraska, the mayor of Omaha publicly rallied Republicans to caucus for Obama on February 9th. Called crossover voting, the tactic is playing a crucial role in the Rove push to deprive Clinton of the Democratic nomination.
Fourth, we can see the veil beginning to be lifted on the true media plan to send McCain to the nomination as they start to go after Obama, as has been nicely summarized in an WaPo Op-ed Obama hit piece today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Repudiating racism is not a magic cure-all for the nation's ills. The task requires independent ideas, and Obama has few. If you examine his agenda, it is completely ordinary, highly partisan, not candid and mostly unresponsive to many pressing national problems. By Obama's own moral standards, Obama fails.
I do not mean that all of Obama's non-Democratic voters in the Democratic primaries are voting him in so that they can watch him lose. There are truly some left leaning Independents who like him. But clearly, the potential for mischief is alarmingly high. Do we want a nominee who has gained his victorious margin from non-Democratic voters? As a lifelong Democrat hungry to get back the White House I find the prospect of losing the White House in this manner not only disgusting but likely with the way we are heading.