Michigan primary: What to do?

What's a poor Democrat in Michigan to do? Next Tuesday's primary is a botched affair and leaves few choices.

First, a review of the candidates through the help of columnist Chris Crain from Between the Lines who, alas, only looks at the top 3 candidates. His take:

Clinton: She's even more cautious than Bill. When he brought up gay issues and the GOP pulled out his knives, he backed down and we ended up with Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. It is doubtful she would fare nearly as well.

Edwards: He says all the right things, but he has a habit (as does Romney and Huckabee) of changing his message according to his audience. We can do without the slipperiness.

Obama: Also says the right things with a few things in his favor. He brings up gay issues before national audiences. He refuses to pander and will not polarize. He sticks to his ideals (though I’m personally annoyed with that ex-gay gospel singer debacle).

Kucinich: The ideal candidate on gay issues, but… At least he recommends Obama as a second choice.

Strange that the Dem candidates have all stated pro-gay platforms on the campaign trail and have been pretty much ignored by the press. The GOP candidates, however, are being grilled on their positions both from the mainstream media to highlight how uniformly anti-gay they are and from conservative commentators who claim the candidates are not anti-gay enough.

But back to the primary dilemma. Since Edwards and Obama have withdrawn their names a write-in vote for them means the ballot will not be counted. That leaves essentially 4 options: (1) Sit out, which has the advantage that my name won't go on a political party "preferred voter" list, (2) vote for Clinton (see above and add in high negative ratings), (3) vote for "uncommitted" (which is a way to embarrass Clinton, but the delegate is free to vote for Clinton anyway), (4) vote for Kucinich. The NewsHits column of Detroit's Metro Times explains why a vote for Kucinich is preferable. Other than getting on that voter list, there is nothing to lose (which is damning with faint praise -- and typical for this political year).