The secret primary

Well, the New Hampshire primary results are in, and I just know that you have to be counting the days until our exciting Michigan Republican primary, which is coming Feb. 28.

Yessiree, if you were too busy standing in line at the soup kitchen, our fiscally prudent Republican Legislature last year happily voted to spend $10 million to hold this presidential primary, which is expected to help anoint favorite son Mitt Romney.

True, others might have wasted that money by instead trying to, say, keep part of our broken promise to our kids by funding the now-canceled Michigan Promise Scholarships.

But our leaders are made of stronger stuff. What's mildly embarrassing, however, is that they broke their own party rules by holding the primary this early. Except for a few elite states, such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, neither party wants any state having a primary or a caucus before early March.

Why? To prevent the contest from ending too fast. In case you aren't familiar with how things work, nominees are theoretically chosen at the GOP and Democratic National Conventions. This year, the Repubs are meeting in late August in Tampa, the Dems in early September in Charlotte.

What's happening now, at least on paper, is that the candidates are competing for delegates in a series of primary and caucus contests in every state. Then the delegates will choose a nominee.

Long ago, the nominations were often actually decided at the conventions, sometimes after dozens of ballots. Back in 1924, the Democratic convention lasted for weeks and the delegates had to vote 104 times before they could agree on some guy named John W. Davis.

Theoretically, that still could happen. But it never does. What happens is that somebody wins a few early contests, which makes it easier for them to get money and attention. Losers see their money dry up, and are forced to "suspend" their campaigns.

The late Mo Udall, one of the funniest and nicest guys ever to run for president, said the contest was like a football game that was fair until one team made a first down. After that, it would take only five yards for them to make a first down, and their touchdowns all count as 21 points. Meanwhile, the other teams have to play under the regular rules. Guess who wins.

The last time there was any suspense at a national convention was in 1976, and as a result nobody pays much attention to them anymore. The parties don't like this, and they have decided to punish states like Michigan that break the rules. Accordingly, the Republican National Committee has taken almost half our state's convention delegates away, giving Michigan less voting clout than Mississippi.

> Email Jack Lessenberry