I never thought I would hear myself utter these words or let them cross my mind -- should I even bother voting?
After what's happened this week with the scheduled Michigan primary, I don't think the Democratic presidential candidates care very much whether I do or not.
You see, I don't live in Iowa or New Hampshire. Living in a reliably blue state, I have resigned myself to the fact that Democratic candidates don't really spend a lot of time campaigning here. I understand that they are going to have to spend more time in the bigger states with more electoral votes or in places that make a big first impression. What I don't expect is to be totally ignored.
For the moment, that seems to be what's developing in Michigan.
Democratic presidential candidates Richardson, Obama, Edwards and Biden have all pulled out of the Michigan primary that's currently scheduled to take place on January 15. News reports on whether Hillary is going to do the same have been mixed.
Apparently some of the Democratic power brokers have their panties all in a twist because some states, like Michigan, want to move their primaries ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. It seems that some of the states with more electoral votes have this crazy notion that maybe their primaries should carry a little more weight in determining who the Democratic nominee will be.
There is a growing, and I would say justifiable, political outcry over why Iowa and New Hampshire should, effectively, be the first and last word in Presidential politics every four years.
To further solidify the Iowa/New Hampshire one-two punch, the DNC wants to punish states who dare to challenge the status quo by either threatening to keep their delegates from the convention or through this scheme to get the candidates to withdraw -- then there is no front runner to vote for and not much weight goes to the outcome.
This way, the DNC gets to throw the perceived front runners a bone since Iowa and New Hampshire are the states where candidates have invested the bulk of their time and money. The DNC already has rapped Florida's knuckles for wanting to do the same thing as Michigan, and have threatened to refuse to admit Florida delegates to the convention next year in Denver.
I'm a politico from the word 'go.' But this really disgusts me. If we're going to have an electoral system where the national election process is managed by the states themselves, then neither the national political mucks nor the candidates should be able to game the system. And that's exactly what's going on.
I hate to be critical of the Democratic presidential candidates, but maybe they should spend a little more time thinking how this is going to play with the voters. You all might want to rethink this one.
Because if you're really more interested in the votes in New Hampshire and Iowa, maybe I'll just stay home next time around. And I'll convince my blue state friends to do the same while we wait for a candidate who cares about everyone's vote.
You can also find Joanne at her personal blog, PunditMom.