Michigan Primary Update

I was visiting over at "That's Saul Folks", the Michigan Republican blog by party chairman Saul Anuzis and found his recent post on the Primary.

• - So what’s the deal on the Presidential Primary process…is it January 15th.
  I don’t know…but I think so…is the honest answer.
  Yesterday Democrat leaders huddled in person and on conference calls discussing the option of holding a “joint” semi-closed primary. The rumors from Democrat “insiders” is that the date being discussed was January 15th.
  However, no formal decision had been made and no formal announcement from Democrat leaders was put forth.
  The Governor confirmed publicly again, what she said on talk radio earlier, that she preferred an early primary in January and that she would sign primary bill if it made it to her desk.
  Senator Levin has been pushing for an early January date…continuing his long standing battle to break the monopoly Iowa and New Hampshire have on being the first in the nation primary and caucus. I have to tell you, I agree with Senator Levin on this one and have never been able to figure out why or under what divine intervention do Iowa and New Hampshire hold their position. It’s a touchy subject at RNC meetings, but no one is ever willing to challenge them directly. If we get the January 15th date…it will clearly challenge the status quo and put NH and IA on notice that things are going to change. Chuck Todd of MSNBC said it this way: “It's a mess, and Levin apparently was determined to break the calendar, rather than try and play within the loose set of rules that seemed to be developing between the early states. This guarantees that both the DNC and RNC will have to take up reforming the calendar for 2012 at their respective 2008 conventions.” For that, you have to give Senator Levin credit.
  Our State Committee passed a resolution authorizing me to negotiate a February 5th or earlier primary with the Democrats. Dem Chairman Mark Brewer and I have been working on specific language for over a year. The legislation introduced in the State Senate setting the date on February 5th has the basic foundation and wording of our last negotiated language. There maybe a need to amend some of the language to either clarify some things and/or better adapt to the DNC rules which are more restrictive than ours…but we have agreed to cooperate for the sake of having a state run joint primary.
  After news leaked out about the Democrats meeting and the proposed January 15th date by Democrat leaders I issued the following statement:
  LANSING – Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis today said the decision by state Democratic leaders to hold a presidential primary on Jan. 15 gives Republican and Democrat voters more influence in determining the respective parties’ nominees for the White House.

Please click here to read the rest of the story.