MI GOP Primary 2008

(Not technically Feingold-related, but interesting nonetheless.)

Heh. I guess the Michigan Republican Party was a little embarrassed after McCain's primary win in 2000. As an old Detroit Free Press article told us:

Of course, goading the opposition sometimes carries a price. Engler suffered perhaps the biggest setback of his career in 2000, when he failed to deliver his home state for George W. Bush in the GOP presidential primary.

Engler, described at the time by the Almanac of American Politics as the "colossus" of Michigan politics, had promised that his state would provide a "fire wall" for Bush against the insurgency of U.S. Sen. John McCain. Democrats, many of them motivated by a desire to stick it to Engler, voted in droves for McCain and handed Bush-Engler an embarrassing defeat.

So it's no surprise to see this in the news:

Michigan Republicans want to bar Democrats and independents from the GOP’s 2008 presidential primary — a step that would present a major hurdle for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), should he decide to run for the White House in 2008.

Well, hey, if they want to lessen the chances of Senator John McCain, their strongest general election candidate, from winning the nomination, I've got no problem with it.