Clinton's Chances for Seating MI Delegates Get Worse

A federal judge in Michigan has held the Michigan primary process illegal–but not for any reason you might think. Minor political parties challenged the Michigan practice of supplying voter lists of party registrants to only the Republicans and Democrats. This ruling will not have any practical effect on the 2008 election, but it adds weight to the argument that the Michigan delegates should not be seated at the Democratic Nominating Convention. The court ruling further damages the “slim to none” chance that the Democrats would seat the delegates that Hillary Clinton would have been assigned, as “slim” just left town. It is unlikely that national Democratic officials will alter their opposition to seating delegates based on a disputed vote that has now been declared flawed under the constitution.

Mitt Romney won the Republican primary, and Hillary Clinton won the Democratic race. Both the Republicans and Democrats had penalized Michigan for holding its primary too early in the party-dictated schedule.