Michigan Looking Unlikely

The main hangup in the Michigan plan for a re-vote concerns who can vote in it.

Right now, people that voted in the Republican primary will not be allowed to vote in the new primary. The plan bars anyone who voted in the Republican primary from voting in the do-over.

That ban would apply even to Democrats or independents who asked for a GOP ballot because Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major candidate left on the Jan. 15 Democratic ballot.

So basically, the end result will be a mess either way. Mark Brewer, the Michigan Democratic Party Chair, says he's fine with proposal as is and says that the verification of voters not having voted in the earlier primary "is required by the DNC" and that there are not actually any problems with the legislation.

Barack Obama and his supporters in Michigan are not excited about the plan, and Democrats in the legislature backing Obama have said they won't support it. If you will recall, Obama historically performs better in states with open primaries where Republicans and independents can vote for the Democratic candidate of their choice. Obama's in-state supporters also assert that, as Hillary Clinton's name was the only one on the ballot in the first primary, many Obama supporters may have voted in the Republican presidential primary.

Today Clinton is holding an event in Detroit today in Detroit, and hundreds of people are waiting to see her. The sense of the crowd is that the re-vote simply will not be possible because the state legislature and campaigns seem less and less likely to reach a compromise.