Michigan's Fake Primary Produced Fake Results

Having lost the national elected delegate race, Hillary Clinton now wants to count the popular vote from Michigan in her campaign's efforts to change the rules of the nomination race. It's a fraudulent argument as the Michigan primary ballot did not offer Democrats real candidate choices.

Here is what actually happened. The four top tier Democratic candidates -- Obama, Edwards, Richardson and Clinton -- all pledged to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) they would not campaign in Michigan, after the DNC ruled that Michigan's delegates would not be seated at the national convention because Michigan changed its primary date from February 26 to January 15.

Obama, Edwards and Richardson kept their pledge and removed their names from the ballot. At the last minute, Clinton left her name on the ballot, with the full knowledge that the results would not count. Obama, Edwards and Richardson complied with the rules, while Clinton did not keep her pledge.

Although there was no other viable candidate's name on the primary ballot, only 55 percent voted for Clinton. Instead --

• 45 percent of Democratic voters cast their ballots as "not-Clinton" - 40% who voted the "Uncommitted" line and 5% who voted for one of the remaining candidates that were not viable.
• An additional 27,694 voters did not have their votes counted, most of these likely due to "write-in" votes -- anyone writing in Obama, Edwards or Richardson's name had their ballot ruled invalid and discarded.
• "Uncommitted" won more votes than Clinton did in major cities such as Grand Rapids, Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Ann Arbor. The "not Clinton" vote also won in Wayne (the state's most populous county), along with several other counties. If write-in votes had been counted, the results would likely have tipped against Clinton in several more cities and counties.
• Democratic turnout in Michigan was lower than every other state primary except Utah -- a state that gave Bush 70 percent of its vote in 2004.
• Recent analysis of the 2008 turnout in other states compared to Michigan's turnout -- indicates that more than 700,000 Michigan Democratic voters, who could have been expected to participate, stayed home rather than vote. They didn't participate because they understood there was no real Democratic election choice in Michigan.


Michigan primary history had previously established a precedent for the 2008 situation. During the contested presidential primary of 1980, the DNC ruled that Michigan delegates would not be seated at the convention because the state was holding an open primary not recognized at that time by party rules. President Jimmy Carter and his challenger, Senator Edward Kennedy both kept their names off the ballot -- they honored the rules.

Clinton did not follow the precedent set by Carter and Kennedy. Instead, the Clinton campaign tried to claim Michigan delegates that were not earned competitively. When that gambit failed, Clinton began counting the popular vote in Michigan as part of her national total.

The facts associated with the Michigan Democratic primary make it clear that Michigan voters were disenfranchised by the election. As a result, the primary vote cannot be considered an honest and valid measurement of the support for any Democratic candidate in Michigan.

Perhaps a fitting postscript can be found in a recent Michigan poll by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA. In that highly respected poll, Obama led McCain 43-41 percent, while McCain led Clinton 46-37 percent. Obama was running a full 11 percentage points better than Clinton in Michigan -- when matched against McCain.

If Michigan had not moved up its original primary date of February 26, a vigorous and fair democratic primary election campaign in Michigan could have taken place. Then the real voice of Michigan Democratic voters would have been heard. Anll the current evidence indicates that the voters' choice would have been Barack Obama -- not Hillary Clinton.

Comments

[WordManMI]

Such nonsense! Obama, nor anyone else, had to take their names off the ballot in Michigan. The DNC rules they pledged to uphold was to not campaign in MI or FL. While none did personally, there were TV ads in both states by all the candidates, buying ads on national and cable networks, as well as on local stations in neighboring states. I might also add that here in Michigan, there were phone calls made on behalf of all the candidates, I got plenty of them. Local talk radio and other venues had surrogates for Obama and Edwards advocating the "Uncommitted" vote. It was covered by the newspapers, too.

So please don't lie about how honorable Obama and others were! They played a game to cozy up to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, and must now suffer the consequences. There is no valid reason for not counting Florida. Michigan should count, too, and if not the original vote, there will be a state-wide primary here first Tuesday in August. Plenty of time before Denver, and it won't require any extra funding.

[rsg5354]

Don't be so sour. The bottom line is Mi and Fl doesn't count. I'm from Fl and oh well the 2 States should have followed the rules. Stop crying you sound like Hillary Rodham Clinton who by the way is a BIG LOSER with no honor or dignity.

[Jimmyboyo]

A judge threw the whole shebang out as unconstitutional

DUHHHHHHHH­HHHHHHHHH!­!! Do you want to grasp at any mroe straws?

[NCMan]

not true at all. The judge decided it would be unconstitutional to distributed the list of who voted in the repug primary to ONLY the dems and repugs and not allow any other parties to have it. Besides, there were other options for dealing with this problem as well. But, Obama just kept throwing up road blocks to stall.

[samtaylor1]

I am not sure where you live, by given that I live looking out over the Detroit Institute of Art, I can say that I didn't see any campaign adds.

I do not have the information. But I think a good guage of how "legitmate" the MI vote was, would be to compare how many people voted in the city of Detroit for undecided, compared to other largley predominant Black cities that vcted for Obama.

P.S.
Will the clinton people stop saying that Obama can't win because he can't get the white vote. It is insulting. By the same logic Clinton won't win because she won't be able to get the large black vote needed to carry states like MI and OH. We need to think positively here. Both sides can get the other's constitute base to come out, if we stop repeating this nonsense to each other.

[Tsunami]

HA, I thought they had cable in the DIA area! I'm surprised you didn't hear the Obama and anti-Clinton ads. Obama took his name off because he thought he'd lose and because he was courting Iowa and New Hampshire. Obama didn't want to "offend" the early primary states--that's his game. While Clinton can go up against a Bill O'Reilly, Obama is a wimp and when defending America's interests will fold like a wet paper cup.

[Grannieannie933]

You are right. No one said they "had" to take their names off the ballot.The other just followed the rules that the DNC established and cooperated with the decision. HRC did not. What does that tell you?

[abigail1]

Um, i don't know where you live but I live in Michigan and got not a single phone call and the only surrogates I heard on talk radio were for Hillary.

[RButler]

When it comes to MI and FL, Obama followers want to go by the rules. Well, the rules are that superdelegates can vote independently and do not have to vote for the candidate with the most pledged delegate votes. But, the same followers insist that the supers have to vote for Obama if he's still ahead. "Oh, the humanity, er, hypocrisy"

[bridgietherease]

Nobody is saying that superdelegates MUST vote with the pledged delegate count - we're just saying that they're completely stupid if they don't. Unless they enjoy being voted out of office in a primary challenge from Obama supporters, that is.

Overturning the results of the election to hand it to Hillary will be taken as a declaration of war within the Democratic party. Superdelegates know this.

[rsg5354]

EXACTLY

[NCMan]

I see you're taking a page out of Jesse Jackson Jr's playbook and threatening super delegates. He started out this primary season by threatening black super delegates with future primary challenges if they didn't endorse Obama. What a great way to demostrate change we can believe in, with threats.

What will you do if the super delegates do vote for Hillary, provide a valid argument for doing it and Barack Obama comes out in support of their decision and asks you to vote for the dem ticket in Nov?

[SLal]

Why aren't Obama supporters demanding a revote, instead of trying to run the clock out to deny Michigan and Floria the right to vote? Obama supporters look as though they are suppressing the vote, and denying people their fair participation in the process. It looks fishy and crooked. Obama can't win as the anti-polit­ics-as-usu­al candidate with this stance.

[bridgietherease]

No, the deadline passed for a re-vote - it happened a month ago and it's now officially TOO LATE.

[SeanOcali]

Not my fault you weren't paying attention 6 weeks ago. This has all played out in the press. The Obama camp was totally for a fair revote. Axelrod and Plouffe said it many times.

Nobody wanted to pay for new primaries. Especially not the republican state government of FL. The Obama camp half-heartedly suggested caucuses, since they're cheaper (and would favor him obviously). Clinton opposed it of course. Then Clinton wanted to do mail-in ballots. The Obama camp opposed it only because it couldn't be done in a fair way. Oregon has this, but there are tons of safegauards in place that FL wouldn't have had time to do. So the DNC was against it.

As for Michigan, Obama would win that state hands down in a real primary. That's what all these Clinton bozo's don't seem to understand. Demographically it favors Barrack, not Clinton.

[NCMan]

what Obama said many times was he would agree to a plan approved by the DNC. But, MI came up with a plan tha both the DNC and Clinton approved. Obama backed out of it.

[NCMan]

The author, Riegle, starts out with a lie and t hen expects us to take the rest of her writing seriously.

Ms Riegle, please post a link to the DNC rule that states leaving ones name on a ballot equals campaigning. Because if you find one, that means there must have been a whole lot of campaigning going on in Florida where ALL candidates names were on the ballot.

When you claim to tell us what "actually" happened you left a few things out.

the dem party in MI begged all the candidates to leave their names on the ballot. Edwards and Obama CHOSE to remove their names when there was no requirement to do so. They did it to curry favor with the voters in Iowa.

In both FL and MI the local dem parties begged the voters to come to the polls and vote as they assured their voters they would work to get the delegates seated.

Technically both Obama and Edwards broke the no campaigning rule in MI with their stealth campaigns urging their supporters to vote for "uncommitted"

[karaplanet]

If you would rely on facts instead of your revisionist history, someone might actually listen to you.

no CAMPAIGNING or PARTICIPATION.

That was the pledge that they (including Hillary) signed. Go away, and take your pack o' lies with you.

[cacki]

WE HEAR YOU KARAPLANET!! But you don't get to make the call on what 'participation' means. The pledge said nothing about the ballot. I like the idea voting again in the August primary. It's all set up, why not? Guam gets to count and Michigan doesn't? Or have a special election asap paid by private money, as was offered months ago.

[stevievi]

Yes, NcMAN go away with your lies.
link or leave

[Hastings]

The issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegations and not the protracted race or the choice of the superdelegates is what is going to divide the Democratic Party. The fireworks at the convention are going to be fun to watch.

[MrWinky]

...and if that is true, then we will will have one Hillary Clinton to thank for it, as she is the only candidate that has worked so hard to whip those consituencies into a frenzy despite her campaign manager's vote to strip MI of its delegates and her agreement that MI and FL did not count. By why worry about causing a problem for your party when you could possibly gain from it?

[Cat82]

I am a registered Democrat who did not vote because my candidate was not on the ballot

I have not placed the blame for the whole Michigan fiasco on any candidate the blame lies solely with the Michigan Democratic Party....I wish more would do the same

[DRPike]

Ditto for me in FL

[justobserve]

The trouble with the Clintons is that they are powerful in the party itself, that's why there is division within the superdelegates to support the winner of most delegates as the rules specified. As long as the Clinton still cling to the race, not only the party's top people are not strong enough but they also are divided and afraid to take a stand. If they vote for the winner, the race for nomination is over.

[thegaygardener]

Thanks for this
The lie that she is winning the popular vote gets repeated every day
NO asterisk, no mention of FL & MI, just this lie that Clinton is winning the popular vote.
Her stump speech now claims" I have won more votes than any other candidate"
I'm printing out your post so I can keep referring to it to stop the Clinton's from spreading this lie
Thanks

[TheOpinionGuy]

The Clinton lie also ignores the fact that 10+ states have caucuses rather than primaries....

[RDixon]

All that's left now is for some one to break out a 4 inch thick magnifying glass and start searching for "voters intent".

[clearthinker2008]

EinChicago:

Please explain what a FAKE 48 state strategy is? And while you take you time trying to figure out what you mean, I'll explain the math.

Barack Obama = winning the fund raising money game
Barack Obama = won more states
Barack Obama = winning the delegate race
Barack Obama = more votes than Senator Clinton

See, the truth is Senator Obama can only lose if the nomination is stolen from him. You might have to come to terms with that soon.

Obama 08

[gayleg]

Obama, Edwards and Richardson took their names off the ballot because they knew it would help them garner votes in Iowa. It was a political move, no so pure.

A re-vote would have cleared this up, but Obama had his people stop the re-vote at every turn.

Because Obama made the decision not to replay MI, the vote should stand as is and HRC should get her delegates and popular vote. Obama destroyed the chance for this to be counted any other way.

[kgb999]

The supreme court and Hillary Clinton stopped the re-run. Clinton would not hold it unless anyone who had voted in the GOP contest was disqualified (Obama disagreed).

The point became irrelevant when the supreme court ruled that the names from the primary could not be released to the state parties, and that the law under which the vote was held was unconstitutional.

Because Hillary couldn't get her way ... no vote was held. All she had to do was agree to a clean and open re-run, but she refused.

[CraigHickman]

Busted.

Thanks for the information that the media won't report in its blatant attempt to secure the nomination for the candidate of the status quo.

[gayleg]

The Republican vote already counts, as is. You want to give Republicans two votes????

Why do you want Republicans to vote in a Democratic primary, anyway? This is just silly spin.

[jsj20002]

As I noted in a reply comment above, the Michigan Supreme Court upheld the law that set up the January 15 primary. It was the federal district court in Detroit that found the law to be unconstitutional. Otherwise, you comment seems to ring true.

[Eoin45]

Hillary supporters are so good at spinning their candidate's moral defiencies. Gayleg, you have no way of knowing why Obama, Edwards and Richardson took their names off the ballot. Your comment is worthless speculation. What we do know to a certainty is that they obeyed the rules that the party had put and place and Hillary didn't. Nowhere do you address the facts of what did happen with the vote as cited by Ms. Riegle. Of course I'm not surprised.

[gayleg]

Oh, give it up. Everyone knows why they did it. It's public knowledge.

[Nyland8]

It's preposterous to suggest that any delegates be seated from any state that the candidates were never even allowed to actively campaign in. If Rodham can't even keep to the rules she agreed to before the primary season started, why would you think she'd keep any campaign promises she'd make to the American public? Blaming Obama for Michigan's disenfranchisement is just so much sour grapes - and a lie.

Obama is holding a pair of Queens and an Ace kicker
Rodham is holding an unsuited Deuce and a Trey, and the Jack of Hearts

After the rules have been agreed to and the hands are dealt, now Rodham is screaming that she wants Twos, Threes and One Eyed Jacks to be wild cards. She's a sore loser - and so are you.

And all that Obama can be accused of is that he's playing by the rules.

8

[gayleg]

He stopped the re-vote. Therefore the original vote must stand.

[gayleg]

What's preposterous is the notion that Obama should get 50/50 AFTER he purposefully stopped the re-vote.

50/50 equals 0/0

[GlennFromCaryNC]

You refer to Senator Clinton as "Rodham" but you don't refer to Senator Obama as "Hussein." Dont' you understand that makes anything else you say appear to be silly?

[Pocho]

It seems the Florida fake primary was a set up from the start also. Many there did not vote with understanding it would count for naught. But some others had a good reason to vote that had nothing to do with candidates. There was another matter on the ballot that concerned a provision relating to home ownership. What people would have interest in that? Consider the context of a state with a concentration of elderly voters and widows in particular. And which candidate have those been shown to favor?

[SLal]

Let me guess- Lori is not from Michigan, and I am going to go out on a limb and guess that she is an Obama supporter.

Of COURSE Michigan votes must be counted! There is no winning scenario for Democrats in November that excludes Michigan and Floria. Period, end of story.

[Eoin45]

What you really meant to say was "There is no winning scenario for Hillary" unless she cheats.

[markusmarkus]

You got that right!

[rhetoricus]

Let me guess... you are a Hillary voter. From Michigan?

Well, I'm an Obama voter from Michigan. We got our ballots thrown out when we tried to write in our candidate, who agreed to follow the rules and not-participate in the election. We weren't about to vote "uncommitted," when those votes too could go to Clinton. Some people saw that the only way to help their party was to vote for a weak GOP, to make things harder for McCain. And then Hillary wanted to penalize them in any re-vote scenario? What crap.

This BS non-election MUST NOT count. This nonsense about the tragedy of not counting Florida and Michigan is worthless Clinton spin. McCauliffe himself affirmed in 2004 that if Florida and Michigan tried to cut in line, they'd lose their delegates. Everyone knew the penalty, and it was signed and agreed to by all sides. Hillary wants the rules changed for her now that she's losing, because she is a spoiled brat and a sore loser.

[Zogtastic]

From her bio (so hard to find, they hide it well with the Bio button under her name):

"Active in Democratic politics in Michigan and nationally, Lori is married to Senator Don Riegle (D-MI) who served in the Senate from 1976 - 1995 and the House of Representatives from 1967 - 1976."

Your Obama supporter suspicion is correct however... but it's more involved than that.

"She currently serves as a member of the Retirement Security Policy Committee for Obama for America."

Amazing what a click of the mouse can tell you... when you care to look before you judge.

[Yansher]

MI and FL broke the rules and must be sanctioned. PERIOD! if the coin was flipped and Hillary is in Obama's position, we will not even be discussing this.

[Stefano]

The original Michigan vote should not count, but to punish the millions of voters because of decisions made by the party officials is crazy. Are we not the party that wants to count all votes, that a voters intentions are what matters. This runs contrary to what i thought we stood for, and we could get branded as hypocrits. Please tell me we aren't reversing our stance on Florida 2000. It was a ridiculous decision to "punish" Michigan voters. The economy has punished them enough. But we still have time to fix this mess, and get it right.

[LittleTart]

With the last name Reigle and writing about Michigan I assume she is releated to former Senator Don Riegle of Michigan.

[radicalcentrist44]

The DNC made a big mistake in Michigan and Florida. Those are vital states. All this boils down to is that the national party bosses and Howard Dean got their feelings hurt by the state parties. None of the candidates should have cow-towed to the national party. This is not an election for county dogcatcher, it is for the most powerful office in the world.

[greejambri]

They should not be counted unless they are FAIR!!!

[rhetoricus]

Tell that to the big states that almost never get to choose the nominee because they happen too late in the process.

Stop pretending that MI and FL's participation in the selection of the nominee is somehow more important than PA, IN, OR, WI, etc., who never tried to cut in line, but who still usually don't select the nominee.

[WordManMI]

Is IA's or NH's selection more important??? They sure seem to be. This whole thing is a big mess. The rules were foolish and the system is broken. The end result is over two million voters will not have a say for no fault of their own. I hope next time around we just have a national primary day. At least break it down to regional blocks. This bickering is stupid and only shows that the DNC has no business governing a nation, let alone a beauty contest.

[Zogtastic]

The problem is, they KNOW they're vital states and they wanted to use that fact to tell the rest of the states how to vote by pushing their primary before other 'not as important' states.

That is why they were denied their delegates.

[dumboldfarmer]

The state parties knew the rules. They broke them. Period.

[Heartlight3]

The Florida Governor even said out loud in a televised interview that they moved their primary up because they thought they were such an important state that the DNC would count their votes anyway, even if they broke the rules. That seems pretty arrogant to me. We can get away with cheating because we are so important? What's wrong with this picture?

[markusmarkus]

"The state parties knew the rules. They broke them. Period."

Actually, the MI dem party broke the rules. The FL (repug-dominated) legislature passed a bill to move the FL primary to the earlier date. The (repug) governator signed it. FL rethug politicians screwing with the FL dems again. First it was Katherine Harris, now it's Charlie Crist.

[MrWinky]

McAuliffe threatened the same thing when he was head of the DNC, and again MI was the offender. This time around, McAuliffe voted for stripping them of their delegates. So let's not put this all on Dean. There was a whole committee that voted on this, and it was their vote that decided to strip both states.

[michiganvoter]

Thank you, Ms. Riegle, for a most reasonable assessment. While I was sad that I couldn't vote for my candidate in Michigan, I would consider myself to be the disenfranchised voter if Senator Clinton were allowed to interpret my inability to vote for Barack Obama as a vote for her.

I look forward to casting my vote for Senator Obama in November.

[gayleg]

You could have casted a vote for him recently. Your candidate stopped the re-vote in MI.

[Eoin45]

That's "you could have 'cast' a vote", smarty.