What Could Lead to Interesting Results in Wisconsin

There are a few things that I’ve always found fascinating about Wisconsin campaign politics. First, pretty much anyone can vote. Wisconsin is a state where you don’t need a photo ID, and something as simple as a piece of mail or a friend verifying that you live somewhere will usually get you a ballot. But second, in Wisconsin you can vote in any Primary that you want. What does this mean? There are a lot of Republicans who might be trying to rain on Barack Obama’s parade today:

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Blog:

Huckabee supporter crosses over

By Crocker Stephenson

Tuesday, Feb 19 2008, 11:02 AM

Mike Burlingame, a 48-year-old corrections officer, is a Mike Huckabee supporter who voted for Hillary Clinton at Lincoln Elementary School in Cudahy.

Here’s his reasoning: He really doesn’t want Barack Obama. He thinks his vote would be wasted on Huckabee, so he’s crossing over and voting for Clinton though he plans to vote for McCain in November.

Bottom line: “I want to knock Obama out.”

Burlingame said the last Republican he voted for in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan.

Now to the surprise of many, this isn’t something that is going to be isolated to a few people. There have been many Republicans in Wisconsin, primarily those who aren’t comfortable with John McCain yet, and I guess a Huckabee supporter or two, who see this as an opportunity to make their vote count and make it one hell of a race for the GOP at the same time.

Many Wisconsin Republicans, as well as many others across the country see that Barack Obama would be a serious threat for John McCain, simply because he can reach out to the young voters, actually get the them to turn out, as well as take a good stake of the independent vote away from McCain.

How do Wisconsin Republicans chose to handle this one… vote for Hillary. I can’t say its what I would do, but you cant hate them for shaking it up a bit.

Cheers to Wisconsin Republicans for making this race even more exciting!

…Though I do find it odd that a Huckabee supporter is crossing over… its not like Huckabee is leading in Wisconsin polls…