by Michael Einheuser
Viewpoint
On Tuesday, February 28 I'm going to get up early, go to my local police precinct and do something likely to surprise many of my friends. I'm going to vote to elect Rick Santorum, the next President of the United States.
Michigan's open primary system has given us a rare opportunity. We can enter into a coalition with the state's biggest social conservatives and and be part of handing the Democratic party their weakest presidential opponent since Bob Dole.
A little history. 1972 was the first year I could vote in a Presidential election. I was new to politics and working on behalf of Senator George McGovern. McGovern was the peace candidate pledged to end the Vietnam War. This was also the first year that Michigan held a presidential primary election. We have an "open" system. A voter can choose to vote in either the Democratic primary or the Republican primary.
The Republicans already had their guy. The very creepy incumbent, Richard M. Nixon, had no opposition so the Republican election was moot. What are mischievous Republicans going to do on election day when their votes aren't needed in their own primary? Try and screw the Democrats. The big winner of the Democratic primary election, with an astonishing 51% of the total vote, was the segregationist Alabama Governor, George Wallace. Senator McGovern came in a distant second with 27% followed by former Vice President Hubert Humphrey with 16%. The conventional wisdom is that as many as a third of the votes cast in that election were by nominal Republicans
This wasn't the last time the Republicans crossed over and supported candidates they thought would be weak in the general election. In 1988 Jesse Jackson did surprisingly well in Republican precincts and in 1998 Republicans helped nominate Jack Kevorkian's controversial attorney Geoffrey Figer to stand against incumbent Republican Governor John Engler.
This year we already have our guy.
At the time of this writing Santorum is beginning to lead Mitt Romney in several polls. A Romney loss in his home state would be a stunning embarrassment ending his aura of inevitability. It could potentially give Santorum the momentum to either win the nomination or for there to be no winner at convention time. Think of the chaos at a brokered convention.
I've enjoyed watching Mitt, Rick, Rick, Ron, Jon, Herman and Newt do their best to obliterate each other in the primaries and caucuses. The longer we can keep this circular firing squad going the better it is for us.
So come election day let's get some Santorum on our hands.
