In “Huckabee, Obama wins set stage for Mich.”  [The State News, 01/07/08], the piece is posited on the belief that the ‘Michigan Primaries’, especially for the Democrats, will bring money into Michigan are relevant and will bring money into our state. This is totally wrong, neglecting common sense in its reasoning that Michigan has any hope left of benefitting from the campaigns or improving its national stance.

Bill Ballenger writes of the Clinton campaign, “While that means Clinton could conserve spending in Michigan, […] Clinton can’t take any risks.” His prognosis that, should she loose in New Hampshire, Clinton “needs to win something,” assumes that a cash-strapped campaign seeking a comeback would spend money in a state that could not help if it wanted to. This is not true. It would be more efficient for her to spend money on Super Tuesday states, such as Michigan would have been. Furthermore, her only challengers on the ballot are two defunct candidates. The $10 million of taxpayer money that will be spent on this primary will not be recouped, as the Legislature hoped.

This primary makes Michigan irrelevant in the national political field. Not only will Michigan not receive any real investment, Clinton’s main competition is people voting ‘uncommitted’, meaning a vote of ‘I don’t care’. This can only form negative opinions of Michigan’s situation in the minds of national leaders.

Lansing’s mistakes will cost us money and prestige. We all need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

-Tom Choske