DETROIT -- So here's the situation: The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is the closest and most exciting in American history. And the Michigan Democratic Party has screwed things up almost beyond belief. They've done everything they could to make themselves irrelevant and meaningless.
They could still reverse course. But Mark Brewer, the longest-serving party chair in the nation, refuses to reconsider his position.
As of now, Michigan will have no votes at the Democratic National Convention. Michigan intends to be the only state where no one was, or will be, allowed to cast a primary or caucus vote for Sen. Barack Obama, now the odds-on favorite to win the nomination.
National Democratic officials have begged Brewer, the longtime state party chair, to reconsider the results of the botched primary. They would like him to hold a widely inclusive caucus.
But Brewer says no. He is utterly unwilling to change.
None of the candidates campaigned in Michigan. Most, including Obama and John Edwards, the favorite of much of labor, took their names off the ballot because the party asked them to. Clinton left hers on, but told the media in New Hampshire it didn't matter, as Michigan's vote "is not going to count for anything."
The primary drew a scanty turnout, and those voters split 55 percent for Clinton and 40 percent "uncommitted."
That was fine at the time with Brewer and Debbie Dingell, the Democratic National Committeewoman who was the leading force in pushing the state to break the rules.
Brewer told the media that the Democratic National Committee didn't mean what it said about punishing Michigan.
When he did that, the Democratic National Committee then canceled the Michigan delegation's hotel rooms.
The Brewer forces counted, as many people had, on Clinton just bulldozing her way to the nomination, at which point they'd be allowed to join the coronation.
But they had never counted on Barack Obama. Last week, after he had won eight states in a row, the mood in some Michigan Democratic circles was near-panic.
Incredibly, one very high-ranking Democratic official was still referring to him as "the civil rights candidate," though it was clear that Obama had gotten a majority of the white vote in many states.
But the smarter of the hacks realized what would happen if Michigan, with its large and vocal black population, insisted on attempting to deliver the nomination to Clinton.
"You can forget about carrying Michigan for any Democrat for 20 years," one officeholder said. "You'll be too busy worrying about the riots that may break out instead."
The Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in, sternly warning the party that to seat the Michigan or Florida delegations "would not only violate the Democratic Party's rules of fairness, but also would be a grave injustice" against African-Americans.
Not only black voters were displeased. One white woman wrote on a political blog, "I thought it smelled fishy that Clinton left her name on the ballot and two days later (Gov. Jennifer) Granholm endorsed her ... I'm extremely unhappy and don't know what to do beside writing to the Michigan Democratic Party ... If Clinton's on the November ballot I will not vote for her."
Frantically, ideas were being tossed around within Democratic circles. One scenario had the delegation being seated in return for their vow to divide their 156 votes equally.
Another wild suggestion was to tack a new Democratic presidential primary onto the August congressional primary, electing new delegates just three weeks before the convention in Denver. What most of the Michigan Democratic leadership seem to want at this point is for a clear nominee to emerge soon, so that the pressure would go away.
But that seems highly unlikely, unless the Clinton campaign suffers devastating defeats in Ohio and Texas.
So the nightmare scenario looks like this: the Democratic National Convention refuses to seat Michigan's all-Clinton delegation, and then nominates Senator Obama. Bet he'll feel he owes a lot to the state that has the worst unemployment rate in the nation.
By the way ... why did Michigan Democrats do this? Believe it or not, it was to have more influence over the process.
Way to go.
Contact Jack Lessenberry at Bucca@aol.com or write to him at 189 Manoogian Hall, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202.
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