The Michigan Primary

Like ol' Mitt Romney, Michigan is my birth state (at 3:07 on an early July morning, a long, long time ago). So let's take a look at yesterday's presidential primary in the Great Lakes state.

The Republicans:

Mitt Romney 39%
John McCain 30%
Mike Huckabee 16%
Ron Paul 6%
Fred Thompson 4%
Rudy Giuliani 3%
Uncommitted 2%
Duncan Hunter 0%

This was a state where John McCain was able to beat George W. Bush back in 2000, with many independent and Democratic voters crossing over to cast ballots in the GOP primary that year. Democrats tended to vote in their own primary this year, but McCain won those few who did cross over.

What do the overall results mean for the Republican race? Who knows. One scenario I see though is that this may go all the way to the convention. We could very well see these candidates show up there without a majority of the delegates, and then an old-fashioned down-and-out nomination fight will take place. And while I'm not a Republican, that would still be fun to watch. Will the party put aside their anger and rally around the old-horse who holds Barry Goldwater's old Senate seat (McCain)? Will they go for another sub-par movie actor (Thompson)? Will the Fascist wing go with Giuliani (despite his views on social issues) in order to keep the Constitutional shredding machine going? Or will the christian nut-jobs remain a force within the party and put Huckabee on top?

Stay tuned!

The Democrats:

Hillary Clinton 55%
Uncommitted 40%
Kucinich 4%
Dodd 1%

It's important to note that this is not a victory for Hillary Clinton. Because of the Michigan Democratic Party's desire to move the state's primary to mid-January, the National party stripped the state of its delegates to this summer's convention, so the election is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. In fact, John Edwards and Barack Obama removed their names from the ballot.

That said...600,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary yesterday and, even though the numbers do not have any standing in so far as the nomination is concerned, the results should give Hillary Clinton chills. The fact that 40% of voters trudged out in the cold, snowy weather so that could essentially mark their ballots for no one ("uncommitted") says an awful lot about the former First Lady's electability. Voters from her own party in a state that has gone Democratic in every presidential election since 1992 have essentially said she's a risk.

And now, on to Nevada and South Carolina.