Michigan Primary Back On for Jan. 15: It Could Help Romney or Giuliani and It Definitely Hurts Thompson

    Michigan's on-again, off-again GOP primary (thanks to court decisions) is back on for January 15th, placing it third in the process -- a week after New Hampshire and before South Carolina.
    The beneficiary obviously depends on who comes out of the two contests before (Iowa and New Hampshire) but it's obviously not a bad state for either Mitt Romney (family connections) or Rudy Giuliani (geography). The big loser is Fred Thompson who is now likely to lose in a third state before getting to South Carolina where he pretty much has to win to survive.
    There will also be a Democratic contest that day but since the DNC has found it to run afoul of party rules and most of the candidates have asked to have their names removed from the ballot there, it will not be covered by the press and will make no difference.