The 2008 Michigan primary: a tale of an uncontested victory and an imperative rebound.

By David Hudson

Staff Writer

 

The 2008 Michigan primary was, without a doubt, out of the ordinary as far as primaries go. Occurring on Jan. 15, the primary was significantly earlier than Michigan’s previous primaries, which occurred on Feb. 22 in 2000 and Feb. in 2004. This fact is what made the primary so notable.

            The major candidates of the Democratic Party, save Hillary Clinton, did not run in Michigan for the primary because of Michigan’s violation of the Democratic National Committee’s rule that it must not schedule its primary before February 5th. This more or less guaranteed Clinton the Democratic nomination in this state since she did not have any major opponents; she got it with 55% of the Democratic votes, amounting to 328,151 people according to CNN.com. Runner up on the Democratic ballot was the uncommitted vote of 237,762 people, 40% of total Democratic voters. The reason the latter vote was so high was because supporters of Obama and Edwards were told to vote uncommitted instead of engaging in tomfoolery by casting a Republican ballot.

            On the Republican side, they only lost half their delegates for the violation for holding the primary early in contrast to the left wing’s 100% losses. All of the major Republican candidates did run in Michigan and the two most serious contestants were John McCain and Mitt Romney. From early on, despite his losses in New Hampshire and Iowa, Romney was favored because his father, George Romney, governed Michigan from 1963 to 1969 and many Republicans were loyal to him and his family. He was also favored because of his promise to bring jobs back to Michigan’s auto industry if he is elected president in November of this year. At the end of the day, Mitt Romney came out on top with 337,847 or 39% of the votes. In second place was McCain with 257,521 or 30% of the Republican votes.

Many voters suggested that if Romney had lost the primary, it may have taken him out of the race for good. Accordingly at the same time they said that if McCain had won, it would have probably cemented his position as the front runner for the GOP. At this point, the GOP and Democratic presidential nominations are still up in the air. All eyes are turning to the fifth of February—to Super Tuesday, to see which two candidates emerge on top of the political battleground as the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.