Romney’s Michigan Win Means Republican Race New Again

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney handily won that party’s Michigan primary this week with 39% of the vote, compared to second-place finisher John McCain who claimed 30%, and third-place Mike Huckabee with 16%.

This makes the Republican race for the nomination a solid three-way tie between the top three finishers, and doesn’t completely rule out the stragglers who have yet to make a good showing.

Romney poured money and resources into his home state of Michigan, which his advisors saw as a much needed win for him. "Tonight is a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism," said Romney during his speech.

In contrast, Rudy Guiliani finished a disappointing 6th place with only 3% of the vote, lagging behind both Ron Paul (with 6%) and Fred Thompson (4%). However, Guiliani’s camp emphasized that he has virtually ignored the early primary states and has instead focused his energy into the "Super Tuesday" states who will hold their contests on February 5th.

Pollsters predicted a Romney win, with 41% of voters saying that Romney’s status as a Michigan native was important.

Romney was also wise to focus on the economy in his campaign ads in the state. More than half of Michigan’s voters said that the economy was the most pressing issue for them, underscoring the tough times the state has faced. Michigan faces higher unemployment rates than almost anywhere in the nation. "This is a state that’s had some tough times recently and they wanted someone to be the leader who will fight for them," said Romney during his victory speech. "And I'll fight for any state in America that's going through a one-state recession."

The candidates now turn their attention to this Saturday’s vote in South Carolina, and Sunday’s Florida primary.

Former Presidential press secretary for President Bush Ari Fleischer predicted that Florida would be the next win to focus on. "I think South Carolina will be inconclusive. It's not going to be what it used to be because it's too much of a jumble. Florida will be a vital springboard to February 5," said Fleischer.

As for the Democrats, Michigan’s primary was a non-event. The national Democratic party decided to take away Michigan’s delegate privileges after the state broke party rules and moved up its primary. Of the major candidates, only Hillary Clinton broke ranks with the national party and decided to participate in that state’s primary. All of the others had declined to take part.

In a decided slap to Clinton, supporters of Edwards and Obama were encouraged to vote "uncommitted," to avoid having to vote for Clinton or not have their votes registered at all. As a result, Clinton only received 55% percent of the overall vote, despite being the only major candidate to have her name on the ballot. Forty percent were "uncommitted."

Controversial minor candidate Dennis Kucinich scored the remainder of the votes. Kucinich was recently denied participation in a televised debate in Nevada after filing a court appeal to demand that he be allowed to appear in the debate.

For those on both sides of the fence, the race to the Presidential nomination remains an open one, which some say speaks to Americans’ growing dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire to see real change come November of this year.