Mar.03

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Idaho, Michigan, and Missouri Voted Yesterday

Three states voted yesterday. All of them screwed up. As Leo Tolstoy pointed out (more or less), all competent states are alike, but each incompetent state is incompetent in its own way. Here is what happened:

• Idaho: In 2023, the Idaho state legislature eliminated the primaries. Who needs to hear from the people, after all? Elections cost money and who cares what the people think? They had second thoughts eventually and tried to establish a primary again, but they missed the deadline. The parties responded by instituting caucuses. The Republican caucus was held yesterday. Six candidates got votes as follows: Donald Trump got 33,603 votes (85%), Nikki Haley got 5,221 votes (13%), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) got 534 votes (1%), Vivek Ramaswmay got 95 votes (0%), Chris Christie got 91 votes (0%), and Ryan Binkley got 40 votes (0%). Trump won all 32 delegates.
  
  
• Michigan: The Michigan Republican Party has been in chaos for months. Last year, fiery Trumpist Kristina Karamo was elected chair of the party. She made a real mess of things, driving the party deeply into debt and alienating most of the leadership with her autocratic style. Eventually she antagonized so many of them that they voted her out. She refused to go. The RNC had to step in and appoint a new chair, Pete Hoekstra.
  
  Before Hoekstra took over, the state party had already decided to allocate 16 delegates in the primary, held last Tuesday, and 39 delegates in the convention held yesterday. Karamo promised to hold a counter-convention at the same time and then let the credentials committee at the national convention decide which slate was the real one. On Friday, Karamo canceled her counter-convention. Nevertheless, there could be credentials fight at the national convention. The real convention was jammed with 2,000 people and Trump won all 39 delegates easily.
  
  
• Missouri: The Republican-controlled Missouri state legislature changed the law about the primaries last year (to require photo ID) but forgot to create a presidential primary. Maybe it was just a Freudian slip: they didn't want an election, just an annointment. Then the legislators changed their minds after leaders from both parties said they wanted a presidential primary after all. But by that time it was too late. So the Republicans held county caucuses yesterday. There they elected delegates to the district conventions in April. All the delegates are Trump supporters, so Trump supporters will control the district conventions, which elect the delegates to the state convention in May. In the end, Trump will get all 54 delegates to the national convention.
  

What a mess. Today there will be an actual primary election in D.C., and Nikki Haley might have a small chance to win it. If she pulls it off, it would be her first win this year. And very possibly her last. (V)