The Michigan Conservative Dossier

November 25, 2007

BY BRIAN DICKERSON

FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

It hasn’t been pretty.

And it isn’t over yet.

But right now, leaders of Michigan’s two major political parties are on the verge of getting everything they sought when they set out last fall to challenge Iowa and New Hampshire’s hammerlock on the presidential primary process.

Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary was resurrected from the dead the day before Thanksgiving when Michigan Supreme Court justices overturned a lower court ruling that had threatened to scuttle it.

Now House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, says he intends to hold a vote Monday on a bill that would reinstate the names of four presidential candidates who withdrew from the state’s Democratic presidential primary last month.

If the legislation passes, Michigan will be poised to realize an improbable trifecta triumph: The first large-state contest in the 2008 presidential cycle, a ballot featuring all the leading candidates in both parties and an opportunity for every registered Michigan voter to participate.

From the jaws of fiasco

We’ve come a long way from three weeks ago, when all of the major Democratic candidates, except Hillary Clinton, pulled their names from the Michigan primary ballot in a misguided show of deference to national party rules favoring Iowa and New Hampshire.

The Republican state Senate quickly voted to restore the dropouts’ names to the ballot. But some Democratic legislators saw the primary meltdown as an opportunity to pick their nominee in a more-exclusive party caucus, and Dillon and Gov. Jennifer Granholm have been reluctant to force a vote that could split the House’s fractious Democratic caucus.

But Friday, facing the prospect of a one-sided rump primary, Dillon began counting votes, and by Saturday, he had decided to put legislation restoring the dropouts’ names to a vote when the House reconvenes Monday.

“I don’t know where Republicans are, but it looks like there’s support” in the Democratic “caucus, so I’m going to put it up on Monday,” Dillon told me Saturday afternoon. “That’s my plan.”

Difficult, but doable

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and the 1,700 local election officials she oversees have every reason to be annoyed that the primary lineup is still up in the air. The House should have fixed the Democratic ballot long before the state Supreme Court resuscitated the primary last week.

But Land, who has publicly expressed doubts that election officials could meet the Dec. 1 deadline for printing primary ballots if the Democratic lineup is altered, has privately assured Democratic leaders that her team can get absentee ballots out on schedule if the Legislature finalizes the candidate list Monday or Tuesday.

Both national parties have threatened to penalize Michigan for scheduling a January primary by refusing to seat some or all of the state’s delegates at the parties’ nominating conventions next year.

But most political veterans said it will be practically impossible for either party to follow through against a state likely to play a critical role in next November’s election.

New Hampshire, which also violated party rules when it rescheduled its primary for Jan. 8, will ask the Democratic National Committee to waive any penalties when the DNC’s rule-making body meets next week, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Saturday that it would be hypocritical for the party to sanction Michigan if New Hampshire is forgiven.

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis has also expressed skepticism that his national party will make good on its threat to slash the Michigan GOP’s convention delegation by half.

Michigan hasn’t recorded many wins lately, but this victory for voters seems within our grasp. State legislators shouldn’t be forgiven if they fail to close the deal.

Contact BRIAN DICKERSON at 248-351-3697 or bdickerson@freepress.com.