Mommy, why did everybody in Michigan vote for Hillary Clinton?

Riegle accuses Clinton campaign of manipulating Michigan Dem ballot – The Flint Journal

FLINT — Former U.S. Sen. Donald Riegle had harsh words for the only viable Democratic presidential candidate on Tuesday’s primary ballot that he called “rigged” and a “manipulation by the Clinton machine.”

Riegle, who now lives in Washington D.C., stopped in his hometown of Flint on the eve of the primary Monday to encourage Democratic voters to vote “uncommitted” if they support a candidate whose name isn’t on the ballot.

That will help get delegates for the other candidates in the Democratic National Convention. Write-ins for candidates who withdrew names won’t be counted.

Riegle accused U.S. Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y of taking advantage of Michigan’s early primary that broke convention rules by staying on the ballot after what he says was an agreement that all Democratic candidates withdraw names.

“It reminds me of the old Soviet Union. This is a tactic that should not happen in a democracy,” said Riegle, who also spoke in Detroit and Lansing the same day on what he said was “a scam ballot.”

“It’s an absolute fraud. They very clearly waited until others had followed through with the agreement and then didn’t follow through with it. This was not an accident. This is a very deliberate manipulation of the ballot.”

But supporters defended Clinton, pointing to Florida, another state where convention rules were broken for an earlier primary date as an example of where candidates U.S. Sen Barack Obama and John Edwards chose to remain on the ballot.

Ron Duncan, chairman of the Genesee County Democratic Party and Clinton supporter, said Obama and Edwards likely withdrew names because they were behind Clinton in Michigan polls and the situation worked in their favor.

“I respect Mr. Riegle’s opinion and everything he’s done,” Duncan said. But “to me, it’s a choice Clinton made to stand up for Michigan and not to bow down to a national democratic committee. This was a personal choice each one of them made.”

Riegle, who has not officially endorsed any candidate, earned fame when while in Senate he championed freedom of immigration on behalf of Jews in the then-Soviet Union. He switched from the Republican to Democrat side in 1973 because of disillusionment with the Nixon era and Vietnam.

“It destroys people’s faith in democracy,” he said of the primary, urging Democrats against voting on the Republican ballot. “That ballot is destroying the will of the people.”