An interesting Op_ed sent to the Lansing Journal about voting in the MI Primary Jan 15th 2008

Here is my Op Ed Editorial sent to the Lansing State Journal
The Michigan Presidential primary election is a sham. In Iowa and New Hampshire, more than two thirds of voters chose someone other than Sen. Hillary Clinton. In Michigan, that is the voters’ only real choice. Michigan Democratic party officials have given no good answer to why any voter should vote in this primary. It is not a choice to "write-in" a vote for Obama or Edwards. Write-in votes will not count since the candidates are not registered as write-in candidates. Uncommitted delegates will be selected only after the primary vote (on March 20, 2008). They are chosen by party insiders, and are not bound to vote for any particular candidate. A vote for uncommitted delegates is a meaningless gesture.
I will not vote in the Michigan Democratic primary if the state party does not fix this primary. Voters should boycott the election or vote in the Republican primary as a spoiler. The state party is forcing me to vote Republican or not at all after a lifetime of voting in every Democratic Presidential primary. I shook George McGovern’s hand in Flint in 1972 and stood near Jimmy Carter the night before the 1976 general election.
I voted in the 1980 Michigan Democratic Presidential primary and worked the Maine Presidential primary caucuses in 1988. I have worked for Democrats my whole life (including as an intern for U.S. Senator Carl Levin in Washington and for U.S. Senator Donald Riegle in Flint and in Washington.) I want to protect my right to vote for a Democratic candidate of my choice again.
I wrote this week to the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) leadership. I asked it to amend party rules to allow a caucus in February. The DNC rules say this election violates national party rules. A fair election involves all the candidates. Sen. Hillary Clinton can have no a "real win" in this primary. Any delegates chosen for her in an unfair election should not be seated. The MDP chair and party officials say Clinton’s delegates should and will be seated. This is a wrong answer and an undemocratic one.
The MDP should vote to hold a caucus vote as the sole method of dividing state party delegates and tell the DNC to seat those delegates or to seat no delegates. An uncommitted delegate slate could be chosen by acclimation if all primary voters were told to do so. Hillary Clinton could tell voters to vote that way. The state Democratic party should call this election a sham, disavow it and fix it along the lines I describe. The state political parties have exclusive control of their rules. They can fix this broken Presidential primary election. It is not too late. The state party is not off the hook. The party should not endorse a primary that looks as if delegates are being "stolen" for Hillary Clinton. After Iowa, Clinton needs a competitive vote to beat Barack Obama, not a rigged primary in which she sits on a rump ballot.

Patrick Levine Rose
Attorney At Law
321 Woodland Pass, Suite 400
East Lansing, MI 48823