Primary:  Open or "closed," it's a dumb idea

As I said previously, there is no such thing as a "closed" primary in Michigan.  A truly closed primary means that voters have to register their party affiliation (if they have one) no later than a certain amount of days before the partisan primary election, and that's the voter's party-of-record until the next partisan registration deadline comes due.  We don't do that here in Michigan, that's not how our laws work.  The only thing "closed" about our partisan primaries is that you can only vote on one side of the ballot (the left or the right) on primary day.  So, yeah, anyone who spouts the line about "closed" primaries is blowing so much smoke; and anyone who truly believes that Michigan's primaries are closed is buying into the lie that "straight ticket primary" means the same thing as "closed primary."

And all I'm saying is that, since there is no such thing as a truly closed primary in Michigan, and that the Michigan Democrat Party will have an incentive to tinker with the outcome, the "ten percent of ten percent" rule is something that those still supporting the primary option might want to seriously consider.  If the objective is to keep the democrats out of the republican nomination process, then in my opinion a primary is most certainly not the best answer.

Closing Arguments and Decision Dilemma

Before concluding, let me briefly review the key points of my arguments thus far:

* There is no such thing in Michigan as a "closed" primary.  Under Michigan's current election law, any primary is wide open to any registered voter in this state, with total disregard for actual party affiliation.  Any pretense otherwise is a bathtub-sized crock of horse manure, and ought to be called out as such.  Also, any non-republican who votes in a republican primary cannot be expected to cast a vote that will be in the best interests of the GOP.  Thus, the question must be asked as to who benefits from a contaminated primary.

The advantages of special primary election:

• Doesn't "blow a hole" in party federal election spending limits
  
• The mechanism for conducting a primary is already in place

The disadvantages of special primary election:

• Exposes the party to accusations of "wasting tax dollars"
  
• Likely will require legislative action to schedule the date
  
• Wide open to democrat party crossover contamination
  
• Doesn't require any special organizing efforts by candidates
  
• Questionable data collection for Voter Vault

So, regardless of what the reasons are, MIGOP has opted for a presidential nomination method that is wide open to non-republican contamination . . . and they have done so in the face of better knowledge.

And I'll tell you, in doing my dead level best to make the case for a county-by-county firehouse-style caucus, I received some responses from state committee members that were . . . well, let's just call them unnecessarily personal and leave it at that.  One or two even swore up and down that approving any method other than what the policy committee recommended would tear the party apart at the seams and pave the way for the democrats to run the table in 2012.  (Quite frankly, I hold the opinion that people who seriously espouse such a position need to be permanently shown the door at the next available opportunity.)