Sunday morning, Michigan Senator Carl Levin is scheduled to appear on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous.” According to the Senator’s office, he’ll be discussing, “ongoing developments with Michigan’s primary and the seating of Michigan’s delegation at the Democratic National Convention.” I’m not sure what options we have available at this point. I thought for a while that the Democratic Party might jump in and fund a do-over primary, but Howard Dean just announced that wasn’t going to happen. In a nutshell, he said that the party would rather direct the $10 million that it would cost to have another primary in Michigan toward the presidential race. And he’s exactly right. The $10 million should go toward beating the Republicans come November, not cleaning up after Debbie Dingell and Jennifer Granholm. And, as our friend Cousin’s Vinyl just pointed out in a comment, it’s doubtful that the results of a Michigan primary would be enough to decide the election. I’ve said it before, but I’m of the opinion that the Democratic Party should not seat a Michigan delegation.

I should add that I think the existing primary system is incredibly fucked up, and that it needs to be changed. Iowa and New Hampshire are not representative of this country, and they should not have a disproportionate say over who our candidates are each election cycle. Change has to happen. I wholeheartedly agree. I don’t, however, agree with the way Debbie Dingell and company went about it. Jumping ahead in line, despite the warnings of the national party, was a stupid gamble. I’ve suggested it before, but why not try to build support among governors for something like a national primary lottery, that would decide the order each election cycle? But, no, I guess that would have been too difficult. It’s much easier to just push your way to the front of the line.