That DailyKos plan for Michigan — asking Democrats to cross over and vote for Romney in the Republican primary — actually is pretty clever, especially since early polling shows Romney losing to all three of the leading Democratic candidates.

No one cares except me.

George Vreeland Hill

Early polling is often inaccurate and Michigan is a blue state so Romney's success there is moot.

I always wondered what a black Patti Labelle would look like.

Romney's success in Michigan definitely isn't moot when it comes to determining who will be the Republican nominee.

The idea, according to Kos, is to help Romney, by far the weakest Republican in the field, get some momentum in the primaries. It would help keep the GOP race all topsy-turvy.

If he became the nominee, so much the better, because theoretically, any Democrat has a better chance nationally against Romney than against McCain.

In my view, if Romney gets the nomination (which means stepping it up in the coming weeks), he can win. He's a moderate for the most part and he's been able to pull off some things in the past where people expected him to fail. I'm not going to underestimate him. Romney has a MUCH better chance of getting the vote of independents than McCain or Batsh*t Huckabee. His views overall are moderate enough that some dems will pick him considering the divide in the democratic party. I'm sure there is fear about his ability to capture the Christian Conservative vote in Red USA if he wins the primaries. He's certainly not their ideal, but most would pick him over either Dems and neither one has the ability to turn red states into blue states. PA and OH are both swing states. I'm not sure who they'd go for.

http://gorgeousblackwomen.blogspot.com/

I agree with you on Huckabee, but I think you're wrong on McCain. The story on him has always been that he's the independents' boy. Republican, yes, but for the past eight years it's been hard to read anything about the man without being bludgeoned over the head with the terms "maverick" and "independent."

His win in New Hampshire in 2000 and this most recent one are in large part attributed to independents (and some Democratic crossover votes), and there's even some talk that he pulled a goodly number of the indie votes that might've gone to Obama in the most recent NH primary.

Romney may have been a moderate Republican in Massachusetts, but he's been moving to the right and positioning himself nationally as a typical low-tax, big business Republican.

In a vote between Romney and McCain, independents probably will break for McCain — and he'll be a tougher competitor for independent votes nationally, too.

"Two leading candidates, Barack Obama and John Edwards, won't appear on the ballot, having withdrawn their names after state elected officials moved the primary up to Jan. 15 in violation of national party rules."

When I first heard this I was astonished. I wasn't entirely sure as to who I'd vote for on the Democratic side but I was ticked off that all options would not be available. Good old Michigan.

I am a proponent of a national primary. Hold it over 2 days so that everyone can vote. And just be done with it.

BMD,

That would be a great idea. Michigan (particularly Southeast MI) is known for having terrible voter turnouts.

I think we'll see a national primary in our lifetime.

Romney will win Michigan. His father was governor here long ago and was popular. Michigan is also in a recession, at least the pundits are calling it that. Its more like a depression. Romney is playing off his father's good name, and PROMISING, if elected, to restore Michigan to it's former glory.