that needs to be backed up with some kind of proof. Lisa P. wants to know if I can verify this statement:

Did you know that some democrats voted for Huckabee in the republican primaries because they believe he could be easily beaten in the general election? He may have gotten the evangelical vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, but he also got the saboteur vote. I don’t feel good about that.

First of all, not every state has the same rules for voting in primaries. For example, here in Alabama we have open primaries. That means that even though I’m a registered Republican, I can vote in the Democrat primary if I want to. However, if I vote in the Democrat primary I cannot turn around and vote again in the Republican primary.

Some states have closed primaries, which means that you have to vote in the party’s primary for which you are registered. Unless, of course, you are registered as an Independent voter, then you can choose either party. There is a clear advantage to having a closed primary. It prevents exactly what I’m talking about in the above statement. Members of the opposing party are not allowed to infiltrate another party’s primary and vote for the weaker candidates.

Iowa holds a caucus rather than a straight primary. In Iowa, a voter can change his or her party affiliation on the day of the caucus.

New Hampshire holds an open primary. However, NH does not hold a strict open primary. They require a voter who is registered with a party to vote in that party’s primary. Only the voter who is registered as an independent can vote in either primary.

So I should have included independent voters in my previous statement about democrats sabotaging the Republican election. Sorry about that.

Rich Lowry of National Review Online gave a breakdown last Wednesday of who voted for whom in the New Hampshire primary. He writes,

Conservatives were 54% of the electorate and McCain lost to Romney among them [conservatives] by seven points. When the race moves south, conservatives will probably be 75-80% of the electorate, and they will presumably dominate in closed primaries. But this is the thing: At the outset, it looked like the way the early states were stacked up would help Romney. But once Romney lost Iowa, they were stacked up to help McCain. The Arizona senator might be able to all but knock Romney out of the race in Michigan with another strong showing among independents, meaning he could possibly KO Romney without ever beating him handily among Republicans. Weird, huh?

You can read the whole thing, The McCain Weakness.

What he is saying is that conservatives voted for Romney. But who won the New Hampshire primary? McCain. I think it is safe to say that a majority of independent voters cast their votes for McCain.

With so many “blue” states voting before the southern “red” states, our choices for a conservative may significantly dwindle. You already know that I would not call Huckabee nor McCain conservatives. The scuttlebutt is that they are working together to get Romney, a clear favorite (if you aren’t watching television), out of the race.

Those of you who have paid attention to my Blogger profile already know that I listen to Rush Limbaugh. If you want to take a look, I have him listed under “Favorite Music.” I know, I know. He doesn’t specifically sing or make music. However, he has the best bumper music of any program I listen to. The Paul Shanklin songs are hilarious. You may find him arrogant and rude, but his commentary, whether it be political, cultural, or football, is music to my ears.

He offers some insight to this that I think is worth sharing. I won’t ask you to listen, just read.

States that allow independents and even Democrats to vote in their Republican primaries are not indicative of the Republican Party, which is why McCain and Huckabee have shots in them. McCain and Huckabee are winning these early states, where Republicans are outnumbered. It’s not Republicans; it’s not conservatives in majority who were electing Huckabee or McCain, so far, voting for them. Michigan is the same. Now, the Democrats in Michigan, they got a little bit different problem because Michigan violated party rules and is running ahead of when the party wanted to, so Michigan’s getting no delegates. The Republican Party is penalizing Michigan a little but not totally, so there are delegates at stake for the Republicans in Michigan. So Hillary is the only person on the ballot in Michigan. Nobody else is competing there. The Democrat Party in Michigan is urging people on the Democrat side to vote nobody. They don’t want them crossing the aisle. They want nobody, because they’re trying to get even with the party and make amends at the same time to try to get some delegates that can vote and count at the convention. So they’re trying to not vote for Hillary.

They don’t want them crossing the aisles and voting on the Republican side. But McCain clearly wants that, which is what happened last time in Michigan in 2000 and Huckabee clearly wants that. So if McCain and Huckabee can combine to pick up most of the independent Democrat vote, and even if Romney gets most of the Republicans, he’s still going to be outnumbered. So Romney will be defeated if this happens in three states, not by Republicans voting against him, but by Democrats and independents. This is key to understanding, and it’s fascinating because Romney figured Iowa and New Hampshire would launch him. Now he’s gotta go to Michigan, and he’s gotta go to Nevada, and then everybody’s gotta go to South Carolina. So it’s fascinating to me, folks. Here we have Republican primaries in which Democrats and independents are determining our winners! It’s important that you understand that. Romney… I hate to say this, but Romney may be out of this before we ever get to states where a majority of Republicans, conservative Republicans are going to vote — and look at who the choices might be then! I don’t think he’s going to get out. But I mean the definition is he’s done, he’s cooked, he’s lost four, hasn’t won one. At some point you gotta win something for momentum. He’s not going to get South Carolina. By Super Tuesday, Republicans might have as their two choices people that are not conservatives that have been elected, I should say, and have their leads based on votes from Democrats and independents. Can you say “screwed”?

He explains much better than I can that a majority of the electorate (so far!) has been more left-leaning than conservative.

I feel like I need to clarify something, though. Rush is not endorsing any Republican candidate in the primary. He makes clear what he thinks of each candidate (as you can see here that he does not call McCain or Huckabee conservative), but he will not endorse any of them. I listen to him everyday and I still don’t know who his favorite is. I have an idea, but I’m not certain.

So, anyway, that explains why I said that democrats and independents are selecting our candidates for us. Thanks, Lisa P.!