MI (D) party encouraging cross voting in primary...thoughts? [View all]

[alp227]

a washingtonpost.com blog post reports "Michigan Democratic Party encourages crossover voting in GOP presidential primary":

The Michigan Democratic Party sent an e-mail to supporters Wednesday encouraging them to take part in the state’s Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.

The e-mail points to a YouTube video of two Republican state senators encouraging Democrats to vote and notes that voters can still return to voting in the Democratic caucuses two months from now.

“Any Democrat who takes Senators Jones and Meekhof up on their offer will still be able to participate in the Michigan Democratic Party’s presidential caucuses on May 5, 2012,” Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said in the brief missive. “If Democratic crossover votes affect the results of the GOP presidential primary next Tuesday, the Republicans will only have themselves to blame.”

(...)

Likewise, just four years ago Rush Limbaugh encouraged Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary Clinton when President Obama was on the verge of winning the nomination.

the video:

a comment on washingtonpost.com pointed out, "in Michigan you only get to choose to vote in one primary". And given that voting for a primary challenger for Obama at this point is just ineffective, I think now: Conservatives consider Rick Santorum the most conservative candidate. The cool thing about voting for Santorum in the primary is that Michigan liberals will do the Republicans both a blessing and curse. The conservative base will be energized, while independents will be scared away. On the other hand, what about those liberals who have a soft spot for Ron Paul?

Here's a similar thread from 2008 about cross voting in Michigan.

By the way, I lived in Michigan during my early childhood, pretty much during Clinton's first term before moving to California, where presidential primaries are closed, even after [link:|Prop. 14 made primaries for other non federal offices open primaries.