Democrats Registering In Record Numbers

[cal04]

1 Million New Voters In Last 7 Primaries
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702272.html?hpid=topnews

They lined up shoulder to shoulder inside the gray high-rise downtown, their politics as diverse as their backgrounds. An ex-felon who needs health insurance, followed by a high school student seeking empowerment, followed by a Marine Corps veteran who wants to prevent his country from crumbling.

Like hundreds of others, their quests led them to the Wake County voter services office earlier this month to register as Democrats for the first time. The line of newcomers that snaked across the checkered tile floor was emblematic of those that have formed across the country this year: black voters, young voters, lifelong Republicans switching parties -- all registering in record numbers, and all aligning as Democrats.

Elections Director Cherie Poucher waited for them behind a counter with a jar of pens and a 10-inch stack of registration forms. She had hired 10 people from a temp agency to help handle the rush on this final day of North Carolina voter registration. Now, as she watched four more people file through the door, Poucher wished she had hired more.

"In 20 years," she said, "I've never seen anything quite like it."

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. or is it Republicans registering as Democrats in record numbers?

To complete operation "We can't do anything right so we'll make sure you can't either" (AKA operation Chaos) as envisioned by Limbaugh? I'll bet its a major factor.

[LakeSamish706]

2. I have great concerns about that... What the hell are they up to? Are they serious, or...

are they just living up to the Rush Limbah suggestion? Sorry, but I don't trust any Republicans.

[napoleon_in_rags]

6. Its worth looking at the numbers.

Why does McCain have so little money when the Republicans represent the most wealthy individuals? I'm not answering that, but it would be worthy to look at if Obama's fundraising has slowed down significantly now that "Operation Chaos" has ordered that Hillary be backed. Presumably, Republicans were backing Obama like crazy to stop the "inevitable" Clinton Nom if my theory was right. If not, his fundraising should be pretty solid.

[onenote]

8. the data suggests its not repubs switching to the Democratic Party

First, if all someone wanted to do is vote in the NC primary they wouldn't have to switch their registration from Repub to Democrat; they could switch from Repub to unaffiliated, since NC has a "semi-closed" primary in which unaffiliated voters can participate in either the repub or dem primary. Second, the data that has been reported indicates that the largest group of new "Democrats are AA, with a sizable group of Hispanic voters also registering as Dems for the first time.

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/03/89000-new-voters-in-north-carolina-who.asp

[napoleon_in_rags]

9. Well I'll tell you one thing, the republicans are behind it...

though it may just be that the horror of this republican administration its what's making people come out in droves to register Dem, they're STILL behind it. ;)

thanks for the info.

[Aloha Spirit]

12. haha clever .

[patrice]

3. That's why what happens after GE with LOCAL Grassroots organizing is absolutely Vital and

also why Obama has been talking about that, so no matter who gets in, the People will be ready to stand on their own feet and Fight for themselves. Anyone who tries to freep that process will be marginalized by natural selection.

[napoleon_in_rags]

4. I hear you.

Its increasingly important that we begin to build community structures for survival NOW because of issues with peak oil and food supply as well. We've been divided from our neighbors too long and its weakened us, but we WILL stand up and take control of our destinies.

PS growing food and food co-operatives I believe are key.

[patrice]

10. Precisely! New economic structures are key.

I'm not directly involved in one of these http://www.ncbcapitalimpact.org/default.aspx?id=146 but I'm working in something similar and the people in our organization are headed in this general direction.

[nichomachus]

11. I think you're giving Limpbutt more credit than he deserves

I think that's an overblown phenomenon. Sometimes it happens -- and sometimes it happens more in open primaries -- but not on the scale that's being reported.

[napoleon_in_rags]

13. Its possible. What I have seen is Republican memes popping up around here.

Not necessarily talking points, but patterns of speech and so forth. One possibility is that Obama has actually just pulled in a lot of Republican converts, and Rush is either trying to sway them back or fooling himself. Time will tell.

[pinto]

5. This is the key to our '08 elections. From the State level, to Congress, to the White House.

The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are already reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.

I still think, all presidential primary hoopla aside, this may be a local, state and Congressional sweep for us. Both our presidential candidates have commited supporters - i.e. they vote - and local/state races are standing on their own regardless of our eventual top of the ticket. In those races, folks vote as well.

It's a pretty good scenario, imho.

:kick:

[Aloha Spirit]

7. agreed

[FlyingSquirrel]

14. Just means more of 'em to keep away from the polls

Doesn't matter how many there are if "the machines aren't working".

[yewberry]

15. Perspective from WA here. It happened here, too.

Just an anecdote, but it might help make sense of what you're seeing.

My caucus precinct in Seattle is not a huge one. It's a smallish working class area. We haven't had a lot of raiding here, despite what people say about open caucuses.

In the 2004 election, the precinct broke records with 28 people showing up to caucus. This year, we had over 900 (yes, that's nine hundred) folks show up in my precinct caucus, and almost everyone spent eight hours that day caucusing with our neighbors. This kind of record-smashing turnout occurred all over the state.

I want to see those numbers keep up. I want to crush the republicans with numbers--huge Democratic turnouts are a must this time around.

[BlooInBloo]

16. Clearly it's because of the massive outpouring of support for Clinton these last few months....

... because everybody knows that people wouldn't register for Obama, since he's so unelectable.

[juno jones]

17. They will come out of the damn woodwork for Obama. n/t

[liberaldem4ever]

18. It is so great to hear that so many people

have found an interest in politics and having a voice in choosing how their government is run. That makes me feel hopeful that our country can heal after the disaster and tragedy that GWB and his corrupt administration caused.