Okay all you McCain lovers and Bush haters out there, Michigan gave the
Arizona maverick a real boost in the race to nomination. Just don't
get too excited too early. You haven't lived in Michigan (well, we
do have a couple of transplants in the area, and they'll know what I'm
talking about). I have - for three long, cold, overcast winters interspersed
with short, cool summers.
Perhaps it is the weather, perhaps the culture, but Michigan has the most peculiar electorate in the United States. I rarely saw a Michigander who voted FOR anyone. They take a Machiavellian delight in problem politics. Due to this propensity, they managed to create a state primary system that not only lets everyone vote in primaries, regardless of party affiliation, but they hold their Republican and Democratic primaries on separate occasions, thus giving everyone a chance to vent their vaunted "anti" feelings, and resulting in some very peculiar nominations.
This system was created when Democrats were in power in the state. I believe that the purpose was to weaken the Republican ability to gain a foothold at the state and local levels. Even Michiganders probably didn't dream of this recent fiasco. It would be amusing if it didn't fly directly in the face of the democratic electoral process. By giving McCain the state's delegate votes, the system has effectively disenfranchised the state's Republicans at the national level.
This is how the booby trap worked this time around. John Engler, the strong and popular Republican governor, is hated (and that word isn't strong enough to convey the vitriol I've witnessed) by the state's Democrats. In true Michigan fashion, these people aren't satisfied with opposing the man politically. They HATE him, with a personal venom usually reserved for someone who has shot your brother or raped your sister.
What makes it particularly interesting is that Michigan is incredibly economically healthy after more than three decades of dreadful decline. Engler's policies have created a sort of miracle in the state. The Democrats themselves not only benefit from this, but they admit it. Still, they hate him and can give no reason for it. I think it's the climate, which can reduce the nicest people to animals by March and April of each year. Since they hold their primaries during the most animalistic time of year, woe be unto candidates. They become punching bags for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder, cabin fever, and snow blindness. They need a little fun. And nothing is as much fun to them as creating political chaos. They just love it.
They will, as a matter of fact, cut off their frost-bitten noses to spite their chapped-cheek faces. They actually came up with Geoffrey Feiger as the Democratic candidate for governor in the last election. For those who don't know, Feiger is the clownishly theatrical attorney whose only claim to fame is keeping Dr. Death out of jail for so many years. No one that I could locate in the entire state had voted for him and they were all embarrassed that he was the candidate. That, of course, insured that the hated Engler would be elected for a third term.
I can only attribute that farcical situation to some combination of the above-mentioned winter maladies that resulted not only in everyone pushing the wrong lever on the voting machine, but then developing amnesia about the entire process so that they couldn't remember voting for the man.
Nonetheless, they were somewhat more than irked about Engler. Engler was in the Bush camp. Ergo, the only fun we'll have this winter is to go en masse to the polls and screw up the primary. So the Democrats turned out for McCain. As they admitted in their exit polls, they plan to vote Democratic in the actual election, but since they hate Engler, this is just a good way to play a little mid-winter "gotcha." They were grinning or laughing mischievously during the media interviews, as if they had done something really witty. It's really a sort of weather-related insanity, but it isn't cured in the summer.
By summertime, when they've become nice people again, they realize what they've done, but instead of being apologetic, they become defensive, and believe me, a political conversation is not a possibility. There is too much anger. We actually had a card-carrying Republican couple move into the neighborhood shortly after I moved in. The neighbors never referred to them by name, calling them "the young Republicans" in the same tone of voice they would use for "the young child molesters." This couple, needless to say, now resides in Florida. I escaped condemnation only because I think both parties are pretty far off course for the average American family (if there is such a thing).
My main point is that if McCain becomes the nominee, the state of Michigan will probably go Democratic. If Bush can keep his act together, the Republicans have a real chance in the state. That is just Michigan politics.