A Primary Concern

"I'm not a member of any organized political party; I'm a Democrat."
--- Will Rogers

In the high stakes chess game over the Presidential primary schedule, just as Michigan democrats felt they had maneuvered the candidates into checkmate, four of the candidates have swept their pieces off the board and are going home. Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden have announced that they will not be participating in the Michigan primary on January 15th. They can certainly (and legitimately) argue that they prefer not to run afoul of the national party rules (which mandate a strict if largely illogical order of state primaries and caucuses), but cynics might suggest that it's easier to stand on principle when the poll numbers suggest that Hillary Clinton is going to take Michigan anyway. But where now, Michigan democrats? If you move the primary back to February, you do so with your tail between your legs, and if you keep it in mid-January, you're throwing a very lonely party.
I can hear Will Rogers laughing...
-Devin