By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
February 25, 2000
Analyst Update: This analysis has created quite a controversy. Was there a Presidential Primary in 1980 in which one or more Republican candidates tried to get Democrats to vote? The State of Michigan says there was no State Presidential Primary in 1980. There obviously was either a Republican Caucus or Primary in which candidates were trying to get people to vote for them. As is normal, of course, in primaries it is routine to encourage unregistered people or people registered in the competition party to register and vote Republican - specifically for one or another candidate.
However, there was no State Presidential Primary comparable to the Michigan 2000 Presidential Primary which was a STATE PRIMARY (according to the Michigan Board of Elections) in which ALL registered voters, regardless of party could run. It was open to Republicans, Democrats, Independents, other parties, etc. However, the Michigan Democratic Party opted to NOT include its top candidates - Al Gore and Bill Bradley in that STATE primary. Democrats Lyndon Larouche, Jr., and uncommitted Democratic delegates WERE on the ballot. The Democrats hold their Party Caucus to select their candidate on March 11. During registration to vote in that caucus everyone must sign a form declaring him or herself as a Democrat for purposes of participating in the Presidential caucus.
What's going on is a media effort to sell their wares by not providing facts and a Democrat spin to infer that George Bush and Ronald Reagan in 1980 were doing the "same thing" that was done in Michigan where Democrats were URGED to come vote for John McCain, then go back to voting Democrat in the fall. They weren't.
On "Nightline" last night Mike Reagan, Al Simpson and Bill Krystal were asked which Republican candidate "went after the Democrats and Independents in the 1980 Presidential Primary - George Bush or Ronald Reagan?" Ted Koppel, the moderator, said it was George Bush.
Someone sent out a report, presumably from Associated Press, which was purported to be: "The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press. It's date was May 19, 1980, Monday, AM cycle." It was headlined: "Bush Appeals for Democratic Support in Michigan Primary" and the byline was Lawrence L. Knutson, who has covered the White House, Congress and Washington history for more than 30 years.
In fact, it claimed to be a story Knutson wrote 20 years ago from Detroit in which he reported: "Republican George Bush appealed Monday to Michigan Democrats to cross over and help him defeat Ronald Reagan in the state's GOP presidential primary.
"Bush predicted he will win in Michigan Tuesday, sending a signal to the "49 percent of Republican convention delegates who are legally unpledged" that Bush is a real alternative to Reagan or President Carter. But a defeat Tuesday would not knock him out of the race, he said.
"...Bush told reporters he believes his media campaign of the past several days had produced a late switch of voter sentiment in his favor. While he said he believes he has an excellent chance of defeating Reagan in Michigan, he acknowledged his chances are far less certain in Oregon, which also holds a Republican primary Tuesday.
" 'I want Democrat and independent voters to cross over and support me,' Bush said at Lansing. 'I urged them to do so and I am confident they can make an enormous difference not only to Michigan but to the nation. Never have the voters of a state had such an opportunity to send both President Carter and Ronald Reagan the message that the American people want an alternative candidate in the fall.' ...
"In response to questions, he conceded that a defeat in Michigan would be 'a serious blow' to his candidacy. He said he needs the state to prove that he can appeal to Democrats and independents as well as Republicans, and display sensitivity to the problems of working men and women."
Does this sound strangely familiar? It does. In fact, it appears to be almost a verbatim copy of what John McCain has done in Michigan in this year's open primary in Michigan, doesn't it? However, I have a small problem with this report. I called the Michigan Department of State, Bureau of Elections yesterday and asked about that 1980 primary. I was told that there was no State run Presidential Primary in Michigan in 1970s and 1980s.
The law which created the State run Presidential primary in Michigan was passed in 1992, and it was a closed primary in 1992. It was changed to an open primary because the people of Michigan were long used to open primaries in STATE elections. The ONLY open primary election in Michigan for Presidential Candidates in modern times was the 1996 election, I was told.
According to the person that I talked with at the Bureau, her records and the Michigan Manual of the Bureau of Elections, states that while Michigan held open primaries for STATE elections in 1980, there was no Presidential primary in Michigan in 1980. In fact, there was no Presidential Primary in Michigan until 1992 when the law was changed to create a presidential primary which was NOT an open primary. Before 1992, I was told, candidates of each party were selected through Party caucuses. In fact, even in this election, the Democrats did not enter their primary candidates in the open primary. In the recently held open Primary in Michigan, the only Democrat named was Lyndon Larouche, Jr. (who got 12,731 votes.) Michigan voters could vote for uncommitted Democrats. While it is against National Democrat Party rules to vote in both a primary and in a Democratic Caucus, no law prevents Democrats in Michigan from voting both in the Primary and the Caucus.
So, if there was no Presidential Primary in Michigan in 1980, where did that Associated Press story come from? Would the Associated press and/or Lawrence Knutson field a story that is totally fiction? They've done it before. They ran a bunch of stories about a genocide in Kosovo that never happened.
Also, back in 1980 was ANYONE talking about trying to get Democrats in Michigan to vote for a Republican? Back in the 1970s and 1980s Republicans generally won the Presidential race in Michigan. Why would they be talking about getting Democrat votes in MICHIGAN? The big push to find Conservative Democrats to cross their traditional party lines and vote for a Republican occurred in the old Confederacy States of the South where conservative Democrats were numerous.
That is demonstrated by General Election votes during the Reagan years, for example, between Democrats and Republicans, even a strong 3rd party challenge from Ross Perot in 1992-1996. The Michigan, Alabama and Virginia voting records in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s General Elections:
1968
Michigan
Richard Nixon-Rep. 1,370,665
Hubert Humphrey-D 1,593,082
Geo Wallace-3rd party 331,968
Alabama
Richard Nixon -Rep 146,923
Hubert Humphrey-D 196,579
Geo Wallace-3rd Party 691,425
Mississippi
Richard Nixon-Rep. 88,516
Hubert Humphrey-Dem. 150,644
Geo Wallace-3rd Party 415,349
1972
Michigan
Richard Nixon, -Rep. 1,961,721 (57.3% -Nixon)
Geo. McGovern-Dem 1,459,435 (22.7%- McGovern)
Alabama
Richard Nixon -Rep. 728,701
Geo. McGovern -Dem 219,108
Mississippi
Richard Nixon - Rep. 505,125
Geo. McGovern -Dem 126,782
1976
Michigan
Jimmy Carter -Dem 1,696,714 (47.3% - Carter)
Gerald Ford -Rep 1,893,742 (52.7% - Ford)
Alabama
Jimmy Carter - Dem. 659,170
Gerald Ford - Rep. 504,070
Mississippi
Jimmy Carter - Dem. 381,309
Gerald Ford - Rep. 366,846
1980
Michigan
Ronald Reagan Rep 1,915,225 (53.5%; Reagan: .8% higher than Ford; 3.8% LOWER than Nixon
Jimmy Carter Dem 1,661,532 (46.5% - Carter)
Alabama
Ronald Reagan - Rep. 654,192
Jimmy Carter -Dem 636,730
Mississippi
Ronald Reagan -Rep 441,089
Jimmy Carter - Dem 429,281
1984
Michigan
Walter Mondale Dem 1,468,512 (41.6% - Walter Mondale)
Ronald Reagan Rep 2,147,147 (59.4% - Reagan)
Alabama
Walter Mondale -Dem 551,899
Ronald Reagan - Rep. 872,849
Mississippi
Walter Mondale-Dem 352,192
Ronald Reagan - Rep 582,377
1988
Michigan
Mike Dukakis -Dem 1,675,783 (46% - Mike Dukakis)
George Bush - Rep 1,965,486 (54.00% - George Bush)
Alabama
Mike Dukakis -Dem 549,506
George Bush -Rep 815,576
Mississippi
Mike Dukakis - Dem. 363,921
George Bush - Rep. 557,890
1992
Michigan 1992
Bill Clinton - Dem 1,854,603 (43.5% - Bill Clinton - lower Percentage than Dukakis
George Bush-Rep 1,585,251 (37.2% - George Bush- Loss of nearly 400,000 votes to Perot
Ross Perot-Reform 819,931 (19.2% - Ross Perot)
Alabama
Bill Clinton-Dem 690,080
George Bush - Rep 804,283
Ross Perot-Reform 183,109
Mississippi
Bill Clinton-Dem. 400,258
George Bush - Rep. 487,792
Ross Perot-Reform 85,626
1996
Michigan
Bill Clinton 1,911,553 (52.9% - Bill Clinton)
Bob Dole 1,413,812 (38.8% - Bob Dole)
Ross Perot 319,095 ( 8.8% - Ross Perot)
Alabama
Bill Clinton 658,308
Bob Dole 771,529
Ross Perot 91,357
Mississippi
Bill Clinton 385,005
Bob Dole 434,547
Ross Perot 51,500
We heard a huge amount of media spin last year and yet the American people didn't seem to be bothered much by it or protest. Billions of dollars were spent in three major 1999 boondoggles in which the American people were fed bald-faced lies by the Clinton administration and the dominant media: the Clinton Impeachment, a non-existing "genocide" in Kosovo which was used to justify carpet bombing of Yugoslavia and the spending of billions of dollars and the scare tactics used to terrify the American people about a "Y2K" disaster that was simply never that big a problem.
Can we expect the same group to suddenly start telling the truth about elections and political campaigns? Why would they? The American people have allowed them so far to get off scott free for their 1999 lies. I think we can expect even bigger whoppers from the media, the White House and campaigners in the year 2000. It is obvious that there is a campaign afoot to trash George W. Bush, get John McCain nominated on the Republican ticket and then we will have one of the dirtiest election campaigns in American history when all the negative stories that are floating around about John McCain become front page "news" when discussed by the Sunday talk shows and talking heads.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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