I’ve never liked the primary system (big surprise; how many people do).

I’ve  lived in seven states and in November will vote for a president for the 10th time. But I’ve never been in position to vote in a primary that counted for anything (At this juncture, I should mention that as a journalist, I don’t vote in primaries. I don’t want to be identified with one party or the other. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about what happens in the primaries).

Rarely has my vote in the general election counted, either. Usually, by the time votes from my state were counted, the winner had already been declared.

This year could have been the first primary that counted, if Michigan had not been stripped of its delegates and its role in the process.

The Republican race seems to be nearly ended, with John McCain’s lead apparently insurmountable. And Michigan Republicans at least got to vote.

But for Michigan Democrats, Super Tuesday was particularly hurtful. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ended the day in a virtual dead heat for delegates. If Michigan had stayed in the middle of the pack, our primary could have been extremely meaningful. Instead, it’s meaningless.

Voter turnout was high across the country , especially among Democrats. You have to believe one reason is that this time around each Super Tuesday vote mattered. Folks marched to the polls knowing that they were helping to select a historic candidate - either the first woman or the first black.

In Michigan, we didn’t get to share any of that historic perspective. We just got to lick our wounds and comtemplate how unfair it is that our votes don’t count.

Sure, there’s a chance the National Democratic Committee will change it’s mind and seat Michigan’s delegates. But not if there’s any chance the Michigan votes - which went to Mrs. Clinton because Mr. Obama wasn’t on the ballot - could sway the result. That would be patently unfair and not likely to happen.

The next few weeks will be a fascinating period in America politics, as the two candidates duke it out in one of the closest races of our time.

Too bad we won’t be part of it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 1:28 pm and is filed under National media issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.