Former Dem chair says GOP right to fear cross-over voters

As Michigan Republican officials meet this morning to decide the fate of the open GOP presidential primary, former state Democratic chairman Mark Brewer said the GOP is right to fear Democratic cross-over voters.
Brewer, who served as party chair through several presidential election cycles, admitted that Democrats crossed over in sufficient numbers in the 2000  Michigan GOP primary to hand Sen. John McCain a win over George W. Bush. That was a successful attempt to embarrass then-governor John Engler, who had promised to create a “firewall” in Michigan for his candidate, Bush.

Brewer also indicated that some cross-overs created mischief in the 2012 GOP primary, casting ballots for Rick Santorum in an effort to chagrin Mitt Romney in his home state.
Some GOP officials want a closed process – such as a convention, caucuses or some type of closed primary  -- so that Democrats will not meddle in the Republican voting slated for March 8 in an open format.  

“At one point we had closed primary, what are called ‘firehouse’ primaries. It’s expensive but you can combine that with Internet voting and voting by mail and that works out pretty well. That’s what I would do if I were them (the GOP State Committee),” Brewer said in an interview with Politically Speaking.

Those firehouse primaries were organized by the party, for self-proclaimed Democratic voters, and the polling places included schools, union halls, township halls and, of course, firehouses.

The former Dem chairman said he does not believe Sen. Bernie Sanders will be much of a factor in his party’s primaries and, by March, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton should be on her way to winning the nomination.

At that point, some Democrats may want to vote on the GOP side of the ballot for Sen. Ted Cruz, Dr. Ben Carson or Santorum because they are viewed as weak general election candidates. The idea is to make the large field of Republican candidates “carve each other up, and then they spend a lot of money.”
Organizing a group of Democratic “raiders” and choosing a GOP target for their votes is much easier in 2015, Brewer added, because social media is an effective communications tool.

To read more about the Republican controversy over the nominating process and today’s State Committee meeting, click here.