Clusterfuck Vote #279
My precinct in the People’s Republic of Ann Arbor is crazily Democratic–almost 80% Dem performance. When I went to vote at around 3:45, I was around the 279th person to vote, counting absentee ballots. And from the looks of things, about two thirds of those people cast a vote in the Democratic primary. Now, the fact that we had so many people turn out, two-thirds of whom voted in a meaningless election; that’s not a surprise (high Dem performance high turnout, that’s us!). It suggests there might be a chunk of "uncommitteds" after all–or even a surge for Kooch, who broke the rules and did a rally at UM yesterday (though it looks like other heavily Democratic parts of the state, and even some Republican ones, have very low turnout today). The number also suggests that roughly 10% of my precinct’s voters crossed over to vote in the Republican primary, or almost a third of those who voted Republican in my little corner of the Clusterfuck.
Meanwhile, from other little corners of the Clusterfuck that is MI’s primary, Michigan Messenger reported that McCain was a little bit shaky when greeting voters this morning, only to have McCain staffers freak out when they realized McCain’s health might become a campaign issue.
John McCain’s hands were shaking this morning as he greeted people (including this reporter) during a campaign stop at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, raising questions as to whether the candidate is in good health.
[snip]
Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers, asked whether McCain is experiencing any health problems, said that the candidate is in fine health and "looking forward to a strong finish in Michigan today."
But moments later, another campaign worker called this reporter to follow up on the inquiry and asked repeatedly if Michigan Messenger was going to publish a story saying that McCain has health problems. The woman caller quickly became aggressive, asking to talk to an MM editor, suggesting McCain was shaking because he had come in from the cold (not the case) and saying she could send medical records to prove McCain’s clean bill of health. When asked for her name, she refused to give it. Read more →