Possible Strategic Opportunity?

With no delegates being awarded to Michigan, you could make the poor assumption that the Michigan primary does not matter to the democrats. The primaries are a marathon for the parties. Each candidate strategizing, taking ground, losing ground, until the end of the race. So how could Michigan factor in to the overall strategy for the marathon?

You could say the popular vote will matter for the democrats and it will. Perhaps a decent strategy for Michigan democrats would be to vote in the Republican primary. Michigan has open primaries, meaning party affiliation does not prevent you from voting for any specific candidate.

With that known, can the saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” hold true in Michigan? Perhaps the voters could use this chance to step over the isle and cast a vote for the Republicans. This could potentially be a chance to bump up the second tier republican candidates. By voting for a candidate the democrats believe to be unelectable and giving them more delegates, the democrats could put a wrench in the republican delegate standings. Voting for the last place candidates such as Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, or Rudy Giuliani, the democrats could theoretically cause the race to split open, thus increasing the chances of running against someone they feel to be unelectable.

Will this happen, who knows? I am sure the campaigns who have withdrawn their ballots such as Barack Obama and John Edwards have taken this into consideration. This strategy would be difficult to execute because people may not want to take time out of their day to go vote but it’s a possibility. We’ll see tonight when the results flow in.

As always,

-- Topher Lloyd