The Independence Caucus is a unique organization in grassroots politics.  They employ a four-phase process that has been likened by one Michigan candidate to a modern-day Spanish Inquisition.  (It should be noted that participation is entirely voluntary; no candidate is actually compelled to complete the process.)  The vetting process goes as follows:

• Each duly-filed and properly-referred candidate is invited to complete the necessary candidate registration process and respond to a 50-item Candidate Qualifying Questionnaire based on constitutional principles. This is done through an on-line survey that is recorded.  Each question is treated as a commitment that the candidate is expected to honor once elected.  All responding candidates who commit to at least 70% of the vetting questions (35 of the 50) are then submitted to a confidential background check.

• All candidates who successfully complete the CQQ are prepared for a panel interview.  The preparation consists of the delegate team scouring a candidate's entire public record, flagging anything that doesn't square with constitutional principles (especially if it conflicts with the questionnaire responses), and preparing open-ended questions based on their research.  The interview itself is done by a panel of five delegates, and should be confined to no more than one hour).  Like the questionnaire, the panel interview is recorded for later review.

• Once completed, the interviews for all candidates for the seat in question are securely posted online for I-Caucus members to review.  This is followed by an online conference period of two weeks where members can ask additional questions and caucus internally regarding the candidates.  Additional research may be done and posted to the discussion thread for comment and consideration.

• Once the conference period ends, a vote survey is sent to all members of the district or state with a request to endorse or not to endorse.  All members in the district or state of the candidate are invited to vote on endorsements.  A candidate who is unopposed in the vetting process must receive a 70% "in favor" vote for endorsement.  With multiple candidate votes, one must receive a 60% super-majority of the competitive vote for endorsement; if no candidate receives at least 60%, then the top two are selected for a runoff vote.

The Independence Caucus, as a nationwide organization, has a policy against endorsing third party candidates.  The policy is based on the principle of Duverger's Law, which asserts that a single-member, district-plurality (SMDP) voting system - which is how it's done in America - will eventually coalesce into a two-party political system, even when we'd rather that it didn't.  In forming their policy, the I-Caucus leadership cites the precedent of the four Founding Fathers (John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison) who developed the American two-party system before George Washington had even completed his first term of office as POTUS.  Every major party that has formed since that time has always done so out of the ashes of a collapsed one.

If the Founding Fathers couldn't figure out how to overcome Duverger's Law, then no one in this day and age is likely to be able to do so.  However, in 2008 the I-Caucus did prove that, by acting as an independent caucus within the two existing major parties, it is possible to root out compromised incumbents and take back control from the out of touch elitists currently holding office.  Likewise, in 2010 the Independence Caucus of Michigan leveraged this methodology, in partnership with the Michigan Tea Party Patriot Network, to accomplish the election-day wins of 2 congressional representatives, 7 state legislators (3 state senators and 4 state representatives), and the Secretary of State.

10 general election successes out of an initial primary pool of 36 endorsed candidates is not bad at all for a first time out.  Running the math, this would mean that the success of the Michigan I-Caucus was just over 26% of the entire nationwide success of the national organization.  I'm told that the Michigan crew has developed several operational innovations that have been successfully field-tested and then adopted-and-adapted by I-Caucus organizations in other states.  (It's nice to be out at the forefront for something positive politically, even if it doesn't receive a whole lot of media hoopla.)

Applying this to the Michigan Republican Senate Primary

It's often been said (to the point of becoming a political maxim) that the real choice in any election is in the primaries; once the primaries are over, you're essentially stuck with whoever survives.  As I've said before, there will be no excuse for sitting on the sidelines and then carping because you don't like who wound up on the general ticket.  The nationwide campaign for the Class 1 seats in the U. S. Senate currently includes no fewer than 11 vulnerable democrat seats and about 3 vulnerable republicans.  That this is probably a golden opportunity to take back the Senate from the establishment elites may be an understatement, and unseating "Debbie the Dangerously Incompetent" is considered to be crucial to that goal.

While at the 29th biennial Michigan Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island, I learned that the Wikipedia article regarding the Michigan Republican Senate Primary is quite inaccurate (as of this morning).  After doing a little bit of double-checking, I learned that the official candidate field for the 2012 Michigan republican senate nomination is as follows (all are formally declared):

• Scotty Boman (Detroit): libertarian activist and perpetual Libertarian Party candidate
  
• Roi Le Chinn (Bloomfield Hills): public administrator and mediator for the City of Detroit (Evidently, his domain bill isn't up-to-date, but he does have a People Movers page.)
  
• Clark Durant (Detroit): co-founder of the Cornerstone Schools and U. S. Army veteran
  
• Gary Glenn (Midland): President of the Michigan Chapter of the American Family Association, known conservative activist, and U. S. Army veteran
  
• Randy Hekman (Grand Rapids): former Kent County Probate Court judge and U. S. Navy veteran
  
• Pete Hoekstra (Holland): former U. S. representative (MI-02) and 2010 Michigan Gubernatorial candidate
  
• Peter Konetchy (Roscommon): businessman
  
• Chuck Marino (Howell): businessman, Six Sigma advocate, and U. S. Marine Corps veteran
  
• Rick Wilson (Grand Blanc): retired autoworker and unsuccessful candidate for the 5th district in 2010

I've had the opportunity to sit in on several of the I-Caucus of Michigan strategy sessions that have taken place since the November 2010 elections, and I can say with some certainty that they've learned their lessons from last year (there were a few), and have adjusted their operations accordingly.  Almost all of the changes affect the first phase of the process:

• Participation deadline:  Once the invitation has been sent out to a candidate to participate in the vetting process, that candidate has no more than 5 business days to respond indicating a desire to participate.  Once that window lapses (and it will be scrupulously enforced), the candidate has defaulted himself out of any further consideration.

• Background check:  The purpose of this is to provide some insurance against backing candidates who turn out to be utter frauds . . . or worse.  The background check is entirely confidential, and does not get released to the public.

• Viability verification:  The purpose of this is to ensure that a candidate in the vetting pipeline has the necessary campaign infrastructure (finances & fundraising, staff & ground crew, marketing, and so forth) to actually run a credible campaign in the district or state in question.

• Restructured questionnaire:  The 80-question CQQ from last year has been shortened; 40 questions were eliminated and 10 new ones were added in.  This will place a heavier emphasis on the panel interview.  (And the Michigan crew has a deep bench of experienced interviewers.)

• Conflict-of-interest protocols:  Not that this was an actual problem, but there are now provisions in place to ensure that someone with a vested interest in the outcome of the vetting process (or even the perception of a vested interest in the outcome) doesn't participate in the panel interview.

• Opt-in instead of opt-out:  Last year, the panel interviews were posted publicly after the vetting process was complete, unless the candidates requested otherwise.  That created some problems for a few candidates, because their opponents' propaganda machines cherry-picked the interviews for lines that could be taken out-of-context and then spun to be made to appear as something that the candidate definitely did not say.  So now, the interviews are pulled down after the vetting process is complete, unless the candidates specifically request otherwise.  (Candidates will always have the option of obtaining a copy of the interview for their own records.)

Last week, I spoke with Don Jakel, the Statewide Director for the I-Caucus of Michigan.  He informed me that the invitations to each of the senate candidates to participate in the vetting process were sent out either concurrent with the Mackinac Conference or during the week immediately following.  So, following the math, that means two things:  First, that we should know by this time next week who is and who isn't in the vetting pipeline.  Second, that the I-Caucus endorsement should come out just in time for Thanksgiving (and might even be in time for this tea party forum).

Stay tuned; I'll keep you posted.