Go Vote Republican, Michigan!

Today's the Michigan primary, and you may have heard that the dynamics here are a bit different than they usually are. The state moved its vote up much earlier than it's been in past years, and the Democratic party has not been happy about that. They've refused to seat whatever delegates come out of that vote, and as a result, Barack Obama and John Edwards have taken their names off the ballot. That means Hillary's running there essentially unopposed (well, there is Mike Gravel). Michigan Congressman John Conyers is trying to push "uncommitted" votes as a way to undermine Hillary, but last week Kos had another idea. Michigan runs open primaries. Recalling previous instances when Michigan Republican voters crossed over to the Democratic primary to influence those contests, Kos proposed that Michigan Democrats let Hillary have her empty win and vote Republican. Particularly, he suggested that they prop up Mitt Romney's ailing campaign. Romney has appeared to put all his chips into Michigan, where his father was governor during the '60s, and if he doesn't pull out a victory, he may take his riches and go back to Massachusetts with his tail between his legs. Without Mitt, John McCain just might be unstoppable for the nomination. Although there may be no way to deflect McCain in the long run, isn't it better for everyone (except maybe Republicans) for the nominating race to keep going for a while? Matt Yglesias even argues that a vote for Mitt doesn't even have to be seen by Democrats as mischief making--he'd be a more reasonable president than either McCain or Rudy Giuliani (presuming Giuliani even remains a viable candidate). Of course, that assumes that Romney is currently misrepresenting his true positions to get Republican votes and that an actual Romney administration would be closer to Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts than Romney's actual presidential campaign, but I'm not sure that's not a relatively safe assumption myself. So if you're in Michigan, get involved!