Some see today’s Michigan presidential primary as "tainted" because only Hillary Clinton’s name is on the Democratic ticket. John Edwards and Barack Obama pulled their names after Michigan broke national party rules by moving up the date of its election.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he hopes Michigan Democrats will still go to the polls and vote "uncommitted" if they don’t support Senator Clinton. Grassley says: "Michigan is trying to jump-start and ruin the process that’s been in place for 35 years. If we want to respect the first-in-the-nation Iowa as a caucus state and New Hampshire as a primary state, then we have to back up the Democrat party and the Republican party that has penalized Michigan for not following the rules."
On the Republican side of Michigan’s ticket, Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee is running third behind what’s expected to be a close race between John McCain and Mitt Romney. Grassley says we shouldn’t write off the Michigan primary as being irrelevant. He says: "In the case of the Democrat party, it may not mean so much because only Mrs. Clinton’s on there. But it’s surely going to mean a lot in Michigan because it could be make-or-break for both Senator McCain or for Governor Romney, whichever one loses."
Write-ins won’t be counted in Michigan today. Voting officials expect the lack of a contest on the Democratic side will hurt turnout, which is being estimated at about 20-percent of the state’s seven-million registered voters.
