# Michigan primary from a Democrat's point of view. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 14, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851 "2012-02-14T21:06:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/21 "2012-02-15T14:58:09Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Rick Santorum is ahead in the polls right now in Michigan. It would be nice if he stayed their and actually win the state. I think Democrats should ignore Santorum’s views on birth control and women in general and support him over Romney. I think their is a fair chance Santorum could gain enough momentum with a Michigan victory to pull some more upsets on Super Tuesday. I’m posing my question more to the liberals on this board, but welcome everyone’s response. Should we support Santorum at this point? I’m torn. Part of me would like Santorum to win in order to have the weakest opponent for Obama. But is this responsible? Suppose, heaven forbid, Santorum wins in November? Can we take that chance? This Michigan Democratic voter is playing it safe- I’ll just vote for Obama in the Democratic primary. Note to non-Michganders- we don’t have registration by party, you just show up and tell them which ballot you want to fill out. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/22 "2012-02-15T14:58:56Z")
There is one very important benefit to “gaming” the system: unelectable Presidential candidates have a measurable trickle-down effect on candidates for lower office. That’s why Republicans are always putting up ballot propositions to ban things which are already illegal: it brings the social conservatives to the polls in droves, and while they’re there they’ll probably vote for some Republican candidates for office, too. If the Republican nominee is Rick Santorum or Sarah Palin or some other dingbat who only 20% of the party will vote for over Obama, lots of Republicans will stay at home, and Democrats will pick up congressional and state elections as a result. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/23 "2012-02-15T15:24:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If an extreme-right candidate wins the Republican nomination, but then is defeated decisively in the general election, it might shock the Republican party back into pursuing sanity, which is something that’s going to be essential in the long run. A choice of two sane parties is far preferable to a single sane party and an insane one, even if the sane party wins. Don’t bogart that joint, my friend. If their losses in 2006 and 2008 didn’t convince them that it was time to pursue sanity, it’ll take more than a Santorum loss this November to do so. They’ll just double down like they did in 2007 and 2009. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/24 "2012-02-15T16:12:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If the Republican nominee is Rick Santorum or Sarah Palin or some other dingbat who only 20% of the party will vote for over Obama, lots of Republicans will stay at home . . . OTOH, if the nominee is Romney, lots of Republicans (the ones who would have turned out for Santorum, etc.) will stay at home. Unless he has a far-right-galvanizing running mate like Paul or Gingrich or Santorum . . . not likely, at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/25 "2012-02-15T16:56:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If the Republican nominee is Rick Santorum or Sarah Palin or some other dingbat who only 20% of the party will vote for over Obama, lots of Republicans will stay at home, and Democrats will pick up congressional and state elections as a result. Yeah, but are they going to be useful Democrats, or are they going to be Democrats who are so terrified of losing reelection that they might as well be Republicans? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/26 "2012-02-15T18:18:57Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yeah, but are they going to be useful Democrats, or are they going to be Democrats who are so terrified of losing reelection that they might as well be Republicans? Those scared-rabbit Dems are better than nothing, if control of a house of Congress is at stake. If nothing else, having 218 seats in the House and 51 in the Senate keeps the GOP from controlling which legislation comes to the floor. If the Dems had such substantial majorities that they’d be in the majority in both houses even without the scared rabbits and the DINOs, then it might well make more sense to kick them to the curb - although if that was the case, I could think of a better use for them. But that’s not the world we’re in. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/27 "2012-02-15T19:14:33Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Don’t bogart that joint, my friend. If their losses in 2006 and 2008 didn’t convince them that it was time to pursue sanity, it’ll take more than a Santorum loss this November to do so. They’ll just double down like they did in 2007 and 2009. I’m not sure that they doubled down in 2007, since McCaine was a pretty moderate candidate relative the the current bunch, and their doubling down in 2009 ended up with their taking back the house. So from their point of view conservative with an extra dollop of crazy is the way to win elections. They know for a fact that the Real America is full of right minded Christians who hate gays and immigrants. If they elect Romney and he loses they can easily blame it on the fact that he wasn’t Conservative enough. If Santorum is nominated and loses then there is a slim chance they might realize that the majority don’t think as they do. Unfortunately, the only way to really convince the public at large that the right is dangerous is to put them into power. Doing so with Bush gave us Obama, and doing so with the obstructionist Tea party is what is putting the popularity of Congressional Republicans to an all time low. That said, I don’t think its worth destroying the country to educate it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/28 "2012-02-15T19:46:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > OTOH, if the nominee is Romney, lots of Republicans (the ones who would have turned out for Santorum, etc.) will stay at home. Unless he has a far-right-galvanizing running mate like Paul or Gingrich or Santorum . . . not likely, at this point. [Their favorability ratings are now roughly equal](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/santorums-favorability-advances-matches-romney-among-republicans/), so it may not matter. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/29 "2012-02-15T20:43:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [Their favorability ratings are now roughly equal](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/santorums-favorability-advances-matches-romney-among-republicans/), so it may not matter. What matters is that no one Pub candidate, whether Romney or Santorum or whoever, can count on the center-right vote **and** the whackaloon vote – and, this year, the Pubs need both to win. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851/30 "2012-02-15T21:24:48Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I’m not sure that they doubled down in 2007, since McCaine was a pretty moderate candidate relative the the current bunch McCain? Through most of 2007, some guy named Rudy was leading in the polls for the GOP nomination. But anyway, I wasn’t talking about that. The GOP doubled down, policy-wise. There was no move towards the center that political scientists used to tell you was how political parties reacted to a shellacking at the polls. Bush did the Surge after the voters gave the Dems control of Congress in an election where Iraq was a major issue, if not _the_ major issue. The Republicans in Congress were behind Bush even more than ever in 2007, right after the country had basically held a no-confidence vote on Bush. > [@](#): > > and their doubling down in 2009 ended up with their taking back the house. So from their point of view conservative with an extra dollop of crazy is the way to win elections. They know for a fact that the Real America is full of right minded Christians who hate gays and immigrants. Tru dat. > [@](#): > > If they elect Romney and he loses they can easily blame it on the fact that he wasn’t Conservative enough. Also true. > [@](#): > > If Santorum is nominated and loses then there is a slim chance they might realize that the majority don’t think as they do. ‘Slim’ is the operative word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-primary-from-a-democrats-point-of-view/612851.md?page=1)