Dems winning the registration fight
As the campaigns slouch into mid-October, one factor is emerging that could shake up the entire race: voter registration.
Everyone talks about the damaged Republican brand and possible GOP-voter apathy. John McCain seems to have solidified his base nicely with the Sarah Palin veep pick.
But still looming is the massive effort to recruit and register new Democrats. This line jumped out at me from a Washington Post story this weekend:
Recent polls showed Obama forging a clear lead in [Pennsylvania], and Obama advisers think they will benefit from the surge in Democratic registration there this year. There are now about 1.1 million more Democrats registered in the state than Republicans.
Even when you guess that most of those newcomers won't actually vote -- maybe the vast majority won't actually vote -- the impact is potentially huge.
When you look at below-the-fold details like this one, you see how much grassroots rebuilding the Republican Party has ahead.
The good news for the GOP is that the Democrats were in a similar spot just a few short years ago. When the pendulum swings, it can swing fast.
posted by Brian Mann @ 10/05/2008 08:07:00 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
I do not know if this has been statistically quantified, but it seems that the enthusiastic groundswell of support for Obama is directly related to the rise in Democratic voter registrations. For example, my father, an Adirondack retiree, has decided to spend two weeks with the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania helping to further the cause there. Such unpaid, heart felt passion cannot help but appeal to many.
Incidentally, in 1965, my father also traveled from New York State to march for Civil Rights in Selma Alabama. Now he is working to help elect our first black President! He is creating a legacy which I, my children, and their children will be able to remember with pride and - hopefully - carry on.
Post a Comment
<< Home