What a shitstorm this primary has become, just for the sake of two little old states...that could possibly turn the general election. Right now it seems like every other post is raging about these two states with opinions ranging from "count the vote! (but not for Obama)" to "Kick 'em the fuck out of the Union! (but make sure they vote for Obama in the fall).

The problem is that the vast majority of the people posting these messages aren't from either state and have no real clue, other than talking points, about what actually happened and how to best resolve it.

I won't speak for Florida, because they have their own idiotic politicians and their own set of circumstances, but I will speak for Michigan as a lifelong resident and someone who knows the politicians who caused this fiasco.

I'm not going to get into too many of the details of what actually caused this problem as I've posted it several times and you can find it in my journal if you want to read it. I am, however, going to talk about the best way to resolve the problem while still maintaining a chance to win the state in November.

First, if you don't think that the citizens of Michigan realize what a clusterfuck our primary was, let me assure you that we do. It was not our decision to do this; we didn't vote for it on a proposition and there was no mass mailing screaming for our chance to jump ahead of our posted date. This was all the work of our state party and their lust to play queenmaker for Hillary Clinton (this is not a dig against Hillary, I'm sure Obama would have done the same thing if he could have gotten the support).

Early on, the majority of the power brokers in MI rallied behind Clinton and began using the Democratic party political machine to drive her polling numbers up. As part of this push, they also decided to break with the DNC to bring the date of the primary forward for two reasons. First, Clinton's desire this entire season has been to break the DNC so that she can replace Howard Dean with a supporter (once again, not a dig. This is how politics work). If Michigan could move their date forward and get away with it, the Clinton faction could argue that Dean was unable to control the party so he should be isolated (and they would have been right). Second, Michigan has a very large African American population in key areas of the state. If Obama were to take off, he could swing those voters and destroy the work of the political machine. Bringing the date forward was a way of killing two birds with one stone.

Obama, Edwards, Biden and Kucinich all knew that Clinton had a lock on the state so they removed their names from the ballot when Iowa and New Hampshire asked them to (Kucinich messed up his paperwork and remained on). Clinton didn't because she wanted the talking point of winning the state if Iowa or New Hampshire fell through. Unfortunately, this left us without a viable primary. Most Democrats either stayed home or crossed over to help Romney win the state to set McCain back (ironic since we did the same in 2000 to hurt bush*). The others either voted for Hillary - 55%, Uncommitted - 40%, or Kucinich/Gravel - 5%.

Now here's where the really dirty part comes in. Most would think that by voting uncommitted the delegates from those votes would be giving to Obama at this point, but that's not the case. Remember the queenmakers I spoke of earlier? They're the ones who get to decide who to appoint as those "uncommitted" delegates and they would be very willing to give them in great numbers to Hillary. So, in Michigan, voting specifically against Hillary would be effectively casting a vote for her. Can you see why so many didn't bother?

So what do we do when the state Dems have screwed things up so insanely? There is no real fair way of handling it because there was never a real vote. However, if the DNC decides to leave Michigan unseated, the repubs will turn the state red come November and now matter how angry all you Obama supporters are with us that would ensure McCain's victory. On the other hand, if our delegates are allowed to be seated without punishment there will be six or more states jumping ahead of their scheduled dates in 2012. In reality, we could end up voting for our nominee in the fall of 2011. It would be the end of an effective Democratic party.

Anyway, what I would suggest is seating ALL of Michigan's delegates but splitting them 69-59 in Hillary's favor. This would maintain the illusion that Michigan's vote counted without allowing it to affect the actual nomination. The state legislature has already voted on and approved this solution. This means Obama would be the Democratic nominee and would have the support of the state of Michigan in the GE.

As a side, I would also like to see the state's super delegates lose their votes or at least see them halved. They're the ones who caused this problem, they should be the ones to suffer.

Hopefully the other 48 states will learn a lesson from this not to try using power tactics to bully the party or swing elections.