Are the Primary Results Reflective of Michigan's Choices?

All across the media, Michigan's choice of Mitt Romney in the Republican Primary is reported as a "big" win. Likewise, Hillary Clinton's momentum is in tact after soundly trouncing "uncommitted" -- her biggest challenger in the state. In spite of Michigan's delegate woes, the media is still reporting on and candidate momentum is still swayed by the outcome of the state's primaries.

Unfortunately, given the flaws in Michigan's 2008 primary process -- party penalties and state election laws -- the outcome may not truly reflect the state's nomination choices. For instance, Michigan's primary did not require prior party registration, but it did require that voters officially align themselves as either Republican or Democrat at the polling place. As part of Michigan election law, the list of voters in each primary, Republican and Democrat, will then be passed along to the respective party -- a practice opposed by the ACLU. According to Politico.com, this discouraged independents from voting.

And then there is the fact that Michigan election law prevented write-in votes. While "uncommitted" was strongly encouraged as an alternative to a vote for Edwards or Obama in the Democratic Primary, its vagueness discouraged voters. This is bourn out by the fact that, had the candidates been on the ballot, together they would have certainly garnered more than 37% of the vote. Instead, the dearth of choice led Democrats down another path all together: crossing over to vote in the Republican Primary.

According to CNN, some Democrats felt disenfranchised and wanted to have options, even if it was to choose the littlest of eight evils should the Republicans eventually win the presidential election. Others were investing in election strategy, some of which is laid out in the Michigan Messenger, opting to affect the nomination process to position an ultimately beatable opponent. In this regard, the Daily Kos column in Newsweek encouraged Michigan Democrats to vote for Romney. Yet another camp's strategy encouraged a vote for Huckabee, considering him strong enough to win the nomination, but repellant enough to lose the election.

So did Romney win the Republican Primary because of his personal ties to Michigan? Or did Romney win because the unique nature of the Michigan Primary resulted in significant Democratic participation?

What do you think?