_SAGINAW -- The Republican Party candidate election doesn’t much concern Louis M. Rocha, chair of the Saginaw County Democratic Party.

“Honestly... I haven’t really been paying a lot of attention” to the Republican race. “My comment to the whole Republican Party is: Just watch the debates and let the debates speak for themselves.”

Republican voters have twice said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is their choice. 

Romney earned a convincing win in New Hampshire Tuesday with 39 percent of the vote, compared to second-place finisher Ron Paul, who garnered about 23 percent.

Romney, by eight votes, narrowly edged out Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses last week with about 25 percent of the vote.

Rocha said the Democratic party is “110 percent" supporting President Barack Obama and “pretty confident” he’ll remain president after the November election.

“The job increase we just had last month is 200,000 and things keep moving forward,” said Rocha, a General Motors Co. autoworker and Saginaw resident. “I think (Obama) has accomplished quite a few things that are good, with the health care and with helping the auto industry... Of course, we haven’t had everything completed as he stated he would, and I think that’s because of opposition.”

Rocha said the Republican party’s stated goal is to ensure Obama only serves one term, even if that means society suffers from the resulting partisan gridlock.
 
The Michigan primary election is on Feb. 28. The Democratic Party chose to conduct their election — which is required by law, even though Obama is an incumbent president — by way of caucus meetings, which Rocha said are cheaper than the standard voting-booth format.