For 2008, both parties moved up their primaries to January 15th. As punishment for moving up without permission, the Democratic Party stripped Michigan of all of its delegates and the GOP stripped Michigan of half of its delegates.
In Michigan, the primary is "open", and as a result of the non-race on the democratic side, Paul should garner a lot of support from independents and democrats. In addition, only 22.4% of registered voters in Michigan are registered as republican (40.4% democratic, 37.2% independent). In a state where no Republican candidate has polled above 20% since the summer, a strong crossover vote for Paul has the potential to be huge. Finally, the MSM is practically skipping Michigan and going straight to South Carolina, which will allow Paul to succeed in a media vacuum. Without their MSM allies, Benito, Huck, Romney, and "100-year" McCain don't have very much to stand on.
