Maine caucus shatters turnout record

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: The Hill

Despite snowfall, Democrats in Maine more than doubled the state’s previous turnout record for presidential caucuses Sunday as Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) defeated Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) for the majority of the state’s delegates.

With 97 percent of caucus precincts reporting, 46,000 Maine Democrats had participated in the nominating contest compared with 17,000 in 2004, the state’s previous record, according to the Maine Democratic Party.

The high turnout in Maine follows a record-breaking turnout for Democrats in the Washington caucus Saturday, and Nebraska caucuses that saw participants overflowing election sites and caucusing outside.

Arden Manning, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said turnout was exceptionally high across the state.

“We did have high turnout in populated areas,” Manning told The Hill. “But rural areas had some of the highest turnout we’ve ever seen.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/maine-caucus-shatters-turnout-record-2008-02-11.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. where's joshcryer? he'll have a stroke.....

:rofl:

[Demeter]

2. If I Were Among the Powers That Be in the Democratic Party

I would be scanning the horizon for pitchforks and torches. There's change coming, and that's NOT what the DLC had in mind....Expect a wave of retirements in the Democratic Party in the coming years, as political hacks and wholly owned corporate subsidiaries decide to retire while the getting is good.

[formercia]

4. self delete

dupe. slow server.

[formercia]

5. I'm warming my pot of tar as we speak.

I'm glad I saved those old musty pillows full of chicken feathers.

All assholes are fair game.

[geiger]

16. that's funny; if u cant laf @ that u cant laf @nuttin

[jacjr]

3. and there are over 1 million eligible voters in maine.

What a shell game. A doubling of a turnout from 2 % to 4% means nothing to me. I wish those who praise caucus victories would gain a sense of prospective of what the results mean.

[Demeter]

6. Remember That Behind Every Activist Are 10 Fellow Travelers

and the momentum is for change.

[formercia]

19. The term Fellow Travelers

Has a negative connotation where I came from. It referred to members of the Communist party and Soviet agents.

Fellow Travelers should look elsewhere.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. bitter much?

and I wish who use words they're not sure of would consult a dictionary before posting. Check out the meaning of the word "prospective" as opposed to "perspective".

[jacjr]

13. Thanks for correcting my grammer.

Your kind advice is greatly appreciated.

[Divernan]

21. He corrected your spelling, not your "grammar" (not "grammer").

grammar n. The study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences. The study of structural relationships in language or in a.
www.answers.com/topic/grammar - 102k - Cached - Similar pages

[MaineDem]

17. But of those, 300,000 or so are Democrats

Only Democrats take part in the party caucus.

So it's a bit more than 2%.

[Divernan]

20. Spell check here: That's "perspective", not "prospective"

Don't get mad; get a dictionary.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. Interesting comment on my blog in this connection

It's from someone in Maine, describing the scene and the determination of the voters.

The original post is here: http://eyeblister.blogspot.com/2008/02/bush-deserves-prison-in-this-life-and.html The relevant comment is the second one.

[jwirr]

8. Must be just terrifying for *ss to see this sleeping giant awaken all

over the US. We still believe in Democracy even if our present leaders do not.

[Auggie]

9. Finally...

There's still much work to be done but it's a promising start.

[jwirr]

10. Yes. I think that it will continue enough to get us elected in 08 but

then most will probably go back to sleep as it is too hard to keep informed.

[Auggie]

12. If only interest could be maintained at the local level --

representatives, senators, state senators, governors, etc. That's where the real revolution begins.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. The forces of darkness are working on ways to put the giant back to sleep

I don't know what their plans are, but I'm sure they have them.

[freethought]

15. I was at one of them!

I was at the Democratic Party caucus in Falmouth, ME. Held as the high school, it was!!!
Place was packed! There were 668 votes cast for delegates. I guess this shattered a long standing record. I can remember the exact numbers but it was 400 and change for Obama and 100 and change for Clinton. Needless to say, the favor was leaning toward Obama by a ratio of about 4 to 1.
There were a few votes for Kucinich and Edwards. Needless to say Obama took Maine. In Portland, people were standing outside in snow squalls to cast their vote.

[napi21]

18. I have been impressed by the Dem turnout across the country, and

I do see that as a very positive sign for the Dems, BUT have you heard the actual % of voters who actually voted in the primary's so far? It's still absymally low. Just in the last few days I've heard numbers like 2% or 4% of the eligible voters! THAT'S AWFUL! When I heard some of those reports yesterday, all I could think was "Damn if we're getting rocord turnout now and it's only 2%, it muct have been HORRIBLE in the past!"

I HOPE the Dem enthusiasm continues into the fall, and turnout in Nov. really IS a record! A BIG Record, like 70%+.