Speaking of the Michigan Primary...

This was in the morning paper. Looks like Michigan moving up its primary is about to become a reality thanks to a party line vote in the Republican controlled State Senate. Still has to pass the House but, still.

Michigan isn't the only state to move up their date but Michigan moving to January 15th throws everything into chaos. For one, New Hampshire law requires their primary at least seven days before anyone else (Iowa technically holds a caucus and not a primary so they get grandfathered in.) and it's being held on the 22nd at the moment. Iowa's said they're not going to push their election up and into this year and that doesn't leave much calender room since they don't want to lose their status as the first presidential primary election/caucus and will move up to avoid it, if they can. So the primary schedule is all messed up and could get even messier depending on who moves where and if any other states shift their primaries up.

Add to that, the Democratic National Committee – the national organizing body for the Democratic Party – has a rule stating that no states except Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and South Carolina can hold their elections before Feb. 5th. Florida's already broken that rule by moving up to the 29th of January. And the outcome's still up in the air but the bylaws or whatever say that the delegate count from the primary is to be halved. And on top of that, any candidate who campaigns in that primary can't gain any delegates from it. Which means, if it's adhered to that Michigan and Florida, two big, important swing states (Although, as in many things, Michigan is fading away in importance and electoral votes. Used to have in the 20s, now it's down to 17.) that the candidates are going to have to completely ignore. I really find it hard to believe that's going to happen.

It's going to be interesting, at any rate.

This is all happening, by the way, because Carl Levin, one of Michigan's Senators who sits on several key subcommittees apparently wants to break the primary calender completely. He actually originally wanted to move the election up to the 8th, requiring New Hampshire, by law, to squeeze in their election on New Year's Day, while Michigan state representatives wanted to set the date on the 22nd, closer to what Florida did (But still violating the DNC policy). The 15th date was a compromise but one that still throws a monkey wrench into the works. It's all so the primary calender becomes an issue and one that needs to be fixed before the next election. As someone who thinks we could definitely use some reform in our primary system (I think, for example, that it's pretty odd that New Hampshire and Iowa get to have such an outsized effect considering how irrepresentative they are of the overall country. Especially the diverse and urban trending Democratic Party.), I'm pretty happy with the results.

Update: The comment thread over at Mr. Klein's seem to have already gotten it, but I'll point it out, too. The paper of record in Lansing, which is only an hour and a half drive from downtown Detroit, isn't the Lansing State Journal, it's the Detroit papers. The Free Press, which I'm partial to, has more subscriptions. While the News has a much more traveled website and a more conservative slant which means it's probably more widely read in the offices of the Republican controlled capitol. Either way, both had this news as front page material. I will add, though, that the Michigan budget crisis which Mr. Beudrot mentions crowding out the state Senate vote which throws the primary schedule to the house is a huge problem and a real pressing issue in state politics at the moment. Michigan is hemoraging money almost as much as it's bleeding population (Especially among the young, educated work force, like my brother.) and in real danger of becoming a third world state. The Mississippi or whatever impoverished, rural, former Jim Crow state you want to name of the north, chronically underfunded and near the bottom of every ranking that matters. And the top of the ones you don't want to be (Like Detroit which, when I was growing up, was the murder capitol of the world. Not exactly something that has you screaming “We're number one, baby!”). And, yes, part of the problem is the balanced budget amendments to the Constitution.