Saturday, January 12, 2008
Web Site Urges Dems to Vote for Romney in Michigan
The political Web site DailyKos is urging Democratic voters to create a little mischief in the Michigan presidential primary by switching over and voting for Republican Mitt Romney.
If Romney wins in Michigan, the theory goes, he'll stay in the race for the GOP presidential nomination longer, forcing other Republican candidates to devote time and resources to attacking each other -- rather than Democrats.
Since Michigan is an open-primary state, the effort would be perfectly legal, explained DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas:
"In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes. In 1988, Republican voters again crossed over, helping Jesse Jackson win the Democratic primary, helping rack up big margins for Jackson in Republican precincts. (Michigan Republicans can clearly be counted on to practice the worst of racial politics.) In 1998, Republicans helped Jack Kevorkian's lawyer – quack Geoffrey Feiger – win his Democratic primary, thus guaranteeing their hold on the governor's mansion that year.
"With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don't we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win.
"Poor Mitt Romney, who's suffered back-to-back losses in the last week, desperately needs to win Michigan in order to keep his campaign afloat," wrote Kos. "Bottom line, if Romney loses Michigan, he's out. If he wins, he stays in.
"And we want Romney in, because the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us. We want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan."
The political Web site DailyKos is urging Democratic voters to create a little mischief in the Michigan presidential primary by switching over and voting for Republican Mitt Romney.
If Romney wins in Michigan, the theory goes, he'll stay in the race for the GOP presidential nomination longer, forcing other Republican candidates to devote time and resources to attacking each other -- rather than Democrats.
Since Michigan is an open-primary state, the effort would be perfectly legal, explained DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas:
"In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes. In 1988, Republican voters again crossed over, helping Jesse Jackson win the Democratic primary, helping rack up big margins for Jackson in Republican precincts. (Michigan Republicans can clearly be counted on to practice the worst of racial politics.) In 1998, Republicans helped Jack Kevorkian's lawyer – quack Geoffrey Feiger – win his Democratic primary, thus guaranteeing their hold on the governor's mansion that year.
"With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don't we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win.
"Poor Mitt Romney, who's suffered back-to-back losses in the last week, desperately needs to win Michigan in order to keep his campaign afloat," wrote Kos. "Bottom line, if Romney loses Michigan, he's out. If he wins, he stays in.
"And we want Romney in, because the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us. We want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan."
