LANSING – The race between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Congressman Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination in Michigan could come down to an unlikely group of voters: Democrats.

Michigan's open primary system allows voters to select either a Democratic or Republican ballot at the polls. Voters do not need to be a registered member of a party to vote in that party's primary.

Liberal blogs like DailyKos began promoting a monkey-wrenching plan dubbed "Operation Hilarity," encouraging Democrats to "cross over" and vote for Santorum in the GOP primary in states like Michigan, which have open primaries.

Democratic political strategist Joe DiSano urged Michiganders to take part in a blog post for the Huffington Post last week.

"The national press is ready to tell the story that Romney got beat on his home turf. You can help make that happen," he wrote.

He also paid for robo-calls to 50,000 Democratic voters urging them to vote for Sanotrum.

Romney was down in Michigan by as much as 15 points in February, leading to a spending bonanza state Democrats want to prolong.

One Michigan voter, Hank Borden, said he normally votes for Democrats, but crossed over and voted in the Republican primary election Tuesday.

The 35-year-old mortician said he cast his ballot for Santorum to drag out the GOP primary process.

"If Santorum wins Michigan, that will keep the competition going," Borden said, "and will cause the GOP to continue spending money fighting each other. They'll spend down resources they could use against President Obama."

Writing in New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait pointed out that Michigan voters have organized primary election shenanigans before, with Republicans helping Jesse Jackson win here and Dems pushing John McCain ahead of George W. Bush.

Conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh got in on the fun in 2008, too, with "Operation Chaos," encouraging Republicans to vote for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The goal then is the same as the goal now: to keep your opponents' primary running long enough to spend their money early, and upset the establishment's choice whenever possible.

That's why Oleg, a thirty-something from mid-Michigan who didn't want to give his last name, voted for Santorum Tuesday, too.

"I heard in the polls that Santorum was pretty much tied with Romney, and that a defeat would slow Romney down," he said. Though he has voted mainly for Democrats in the past, he said he believed he was helping Obama with his vote.

New York Times pollster Nate Silver projected Tuesday that Romney would win 39 percent of the vote to Santorum's 38.1 percent, underscoring just how close the race was.

And what if Operation Hilarity works so well Santorum wins the nomination and faces off with President Obama in the fall?

"I would rather see Santorum win the nomination than Mitt Romney," Borden said. "He's completely unelectable against Barack."

E-mail Angela Wittrock: awittroc@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/AngelaWittrock and Facebook, or reach her by phone at 517.908.0712.



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