Supporters needed to collect 12,396 valid signatures by Tuesday but collected only around 3,000, said Bob Alexander, co-chairman of the Michigan Draft Gore group. He said in a statement that the group was able to raise only about a fifth of the $12,500 it needed to mount a full-time petition drive.
And Brewer is saying that they are sticking with a primary, so at this point, no caucus, either.
Gore backers on Tuesday urged the state Democratic Party to bow out of the presidential primary and instead hold party caucuses so Gore could be on the ballot if he gets into the race. But state Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said that isn't going to happen.
"We're intending to use the January 15 primary to select our delegates," he said Tuesday.
Gore could still be a write-in candidate if he files with the SOS by January 4th.
Both Brewer and Anuzis think that all the delegates will be seated at the convention.
Brewer declined to speculate on whether the withdrawal of Biden, Edwards, Obama and Richardson means Clinton likely will win most of the state's 60 national convention delegates who will be allocated according to the primary results.
But he said he is not worried Michigan delegates won't get seated at their national conventions, even though the Democratic National Committee plans to strip Florida and Michigan of their delegates for scheduling primaries before Feb. 5 and the Republican National Committee wants to take away half the delegates from Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina and Wyoming because those states shifted their elections ahead on the GOP calendar.
What will it take to get those names back on the ballot for a primary? Is that possible?