Snow falls, Romney's hopes rise

If turnout in Michigan is low, will it hurt McCain?

Published January 15, 2008 6:07PM (EST)

YPSILANTI, Mich. - It's snowing in Grand Rapids and it already snowed here. Now Republican campaign aides say turnout is light around the state this morning.

That could be good news for Mitt Romney, if the weather is keeping independents and Democrats from voting for John McCain. (Romney aides greeted this morning's snow like kids who hadn't yet done their homework hoping for school to close.) Among traditional Republivan voters, polls show Romney ahead, and his team says he'd win a GOP-only race. But McCain's own strategists believe his supporters are more passionate about their man than Romney's, and that so far, turnout is low everywhere, not just in areas that favor McCain.

Early exit polls haven't leaked out far enough to reach me yet, so it's hard to say who's right and who's spinning. One measure seems to tilt McCain's way -- he drew a crowd of several hundred people to a town hall here this afternoon, while Romney's sole event today, a morning rally near the Grand Rapids airport, was much smaller. But don't read too much into that. Who knows how many of the people listening to McCain right now have voted -- or for whom?


By Mike Madden

Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here.

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2008 Elections John Mccain R-ariz. Mitt Romney