Michigan's crippled primary

This is becoming a theme for some January primaries, especially those not endorsed by their party's respective national committees.

The Democratic National Committee has decided to strip Michigan of all it's delegates to the national convention this summer, and the Republican National Committee has likewise punished the state, but only by reducing their delegates by 50%.

Barack Obama and John Edwards have agreed to the DNC's request that they not actively campaign in the state. Hillary Clinton is the only one of the "Big Three" candidates to disregard the DNC's wishes. This might lead to a landslide for Clinton, although it will be a meaningless victory.

And there's always the possibility that another candidate will win, or the category "uncommitted" will receive the most votes, which would probably be quite embarrassing for Clinton's campaign.

Over on the Republican side, at least two recent polls put Romney ahead of chief rival McCain, but a third showed McCain slightly ahead in the days leading up to the primary battle.

Because of Michigan's "open primary" law, registered voters are eligible to vote for either party. Readers of the blogs Daily Kos and FireDogLake have been urging progressive Democrats to cross party lines and vote for Mitt Romney, whom I'm guessing they believe may be easier to defeat in the general election than John McCain.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with this rational, but it's comforting to know that should we be inaugurating President Romney next January, at least we'll have somebody to blame for it!

See: Ralph Nader in 2000.