Michigan Won't Take No For An Answer

Michigan Won't Take No For An Answer

Frustrated that their primary date leapfrogging efforts backfired when four Democratic candidates took their name off the ballot, Michigan leaders are considering a new tactic: forcing the candidates onto the ballot. Ballot Access News reports:

Michigan legislative leaders are talking about rushing a bill through the legislature that would say that anyone discussed in the news media must be on the presidential primary ballot, unless the candidate signs a statement that he or she is not running for president.

Would this force a Sherman statement out of fantasy candidate and new Nobel laureate Al Gore? Maybe, maybe not. But it couldn't force candidates to actually go to Michigan. The top six Democrats have signed a pledge not to campaign in states that violate the Democratic National Committee's calendar. Chris Dodd, one of the candidates who left his name on the Michigan ballot, told Iowa Independent Friday, "I haven't been to Michigan in three years, and I'm not going there."

Meanwhile, Michigan leaders are calling the kettle black by challenging New Hampshire for... violating the calendar, writing to DNC chair Howard Dean on Friday:

Sen. Carl Levin, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and DNC member Debbie Dingell allege that New Hampshire is set to violate the DNC's rules by moving earlier than Jan. 22.

"We want to know what the DNC intends to do about the New Hampshire Secretary of State's decision to move forward the date of the primary to select their delegates even though that date violates the DNC rules," they wrote.

"Michigan Democrats have always said that we would abide by the DNC's rules on the timing of the delegate selection primaries and caucuses as long as other states abided by them. That is now no longer the case."

And the big picture of Michigan's effort, putting its issues on the table, has backfired in the case of one candidate. In an article titled "Is Obama giving Michigan brush-off?", the Detroit Free Press notes that Obama is running a new television ad in New Hampshire describing himself as the candidate who has taken on Detroit, telling automakers in their backyard how they need to build cars that squeeze more miles from a gallon of gas.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who started the battle to move Michigan's primary up, said he doesn't think the Illinois senator is writing off the state.

"He's just shooting the dice to win in Iowa and New Hampshire. It's just more evidence of the power that those states have in this process," Levin said.