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[Tiger Beer]

Michigan primaries are next, one week after New Hampshire.

Republicans will be campaigning strongly there. All will be trying to get a good showing there next.

For Democrats however, it's a different ballgame. Obama and Edwards don't have their name on the ballot protesting that it moved its Primary earlier than Mega-Tuesday in March. Meaning, that Democrats can ONLY vote for Clinton, Kucinich or Gravel. No write-ins are acceptable.

Did Obama and Edwards mess up or what? To ignore an entire state of voters (10th in population in the country, I believe), seems like a real bad idea.

All the Republicans are geared up for Michigan however, and Dems are free to vote for them. Something like this could shift Michigan (a generally very solid Democratic state) into a potentially Republican one.

[Milwaukiedave]

Yeah there's no doubt in my mind Clinton will win that one hands down. It may be a good boost for one of the other candidates who hasn't gotten much attention to place second since Obama/Edwards have opted out. I agree that may have been a dumb mistake.

[Tiger Beer]

Apparently they are urging Michigan voters to select 'undecided' if they want Obama or Edwards. Write-ins WILL be tossed. So an easy win for Clinton, and will give her much needed delegates.

Apparently Kucinich will be campaigning in Michigan and is on the ballot. I don't see him doing much, but it will give a boost to his campaign.

Too bad about both Obama and Edwards, as I think they would appeal to a lot of Michigan voters. I can't help but think that true undecided voters will probably write them off completely, and may in fact get really tuned into one of the many Republican candidates who will be campaigning heavily there after New Hamphshire.

This move could easily shift Michigan towards the 50/50 state of Florida 2000 or Ohio 2004. People there will attach themselves to the candidates campaigning and it will probably carry right on through to the November election.

I have this funny feeling that while NH won't vote for Huckabee, that Michigan probably will choose him. If it's Huckabee and Obama for example in November, Michigan could easily be a swing state going for the Republicans because of the coming strong Republican exposure next week.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I think you are over-reacting in this case. Dems may end up voting for a Republican, but that will just screw up the Republicans. There will be no way to tell who the Republicans of Michigan actually favor. Some Dems might even do it as a lark. "Hey, lets go screw with some Republican heads...let's vote for Huckabee." I also don't think a Dem who wants to vote for Obama or Edwards is likely to become 'infected' with Republicanism.

[chronicpride]

Keep in mind that the Michigan primary is just for show, this year. They can vote, but their votes will not count, due to their violation of DNC rules (ie., moved their primary date into January without consent from DNC). Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Biden, and Gravel all agreed to show solidarity with the DNC and agreed to take their names of the Michigan ballot.

Hillary will obviously win, but everybody will emphasize that the votes don't mean anything, as she and Kucinich were the only candidates on the ballot. She's obviously staying in just to gain the transparent PR of having a win in a big state. It'll be interesting to see if she patronizes the intellgence of the electorate in later states by referencing her win in Michigan and how big it was.

A similar situation is also going on with the Florida primary. They violated DNC rules and their votes will not count. At least not until after a nominee is elected, as the DNC will not allow those two states to be the swing states that determined the nominee.

[Tiger Beer]

Apparently they are trying to educate Democratic voters to vote 'undecided', which means Edwards and Obama could kind of team-up together against Hiliary. If 'undecided' Democratic voters outnumber Hiliary, it would be a strong message. Plus apparently they still need to vote Democratic to get a certain amount of Democratic delegates from what I understand.

However, for that to happen, Edwards and Obama would have to show up in Michigan and give some speeches and so forth. At this time, I am wondering if they are just going to take a break or head off to somewhere like Nevada and South Carolina a bit earlier.

For the Republicans, I don't see Dems messing it too much for Republicans. The Republicans is a wide playing field, too difficult to say who could win. McCain would appeal to the most traditional Michigan person I'd think. Particulary the urban/suburban areas like Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo, etc.

I don't think Romney would appeal at all to a Michigan voter, with the exception of the rich wealthy Detroit suburbs with which he would strongly resemble - yuppie, capital venturist, etc. Romney also grew up in Michigan, so might be interesting as he could get some good votes just for that.

Personally, I think Huckabee is going to do well in Michigan. Even if he does lousy in New Hampshire, I really think the average, rural in particular, Michigan voter is going to be attracted to Huckabee. Partly because 'evangelicals' have been sweeping over the rural areas of that state, probably much like Iowa. But being that the urban/suburban areas are much higher in Michigan, he'll do much better than NH, but not nearly as good as IA.

[Milwaukiedave]

Yeah, but even if the number of undecideds are more then HC gets, you know her campaign will spin it as a win no matter what.