Republicans in Texas are crossing over and voting for Obama

[Catherine Vincent]

They hate Hillary so bad, that they are casting their vote for Obama. This is why Obama just might win Texas.

[Yael]

1. So we should fight back and run her in the GE?

[TheDebbieDee]

37. My question since Iowa has been......

If Obama is the nominee, will these repukes cross over and vote for him again in November?

Will they?

[monktonman]

38. The question really is...

will you vote for Obama in the GE?
Looks like you might have to.

[TheDebbieDee]

43. I've never said I wouldn't vote for him, but......

with the way repukes are slobbering over him, quite frankly I feel that my vote may not be needed.

Also, I haven't drunk the Kool-aid. :P

[monktonman]

47. I happen to like Kool-aid

Covers up the awful taste of the mushrooms.

What I'd really like to know is
will you vote for the democratic nominee in the GE no matter who it is?

[LiberalFighter]

50. Will it make any difference who wins Texas?

2004
Bush - 4,526,917
Kerry - 2,832,704

2000
Bush - 3,799,639
Gore - 2,433,746

How will Obama or Clinton win Texas in the General?

[MethuenProgressive]

2. Republicans want our nominee to be Obama.

And DUbamas just aren't savvy enough see that for what it is.

[MNDemNY]

4. I think letting the republicans pick our nomminee is a great thing.

[thereismore]

42. You are ignoring everybody else that voted for him. nt

[BeyondGeography]

6. I'm trying to get him to withdraw

But he won't listen.

[Justyce]

7. I would agree with that statement

"Republicans want our nominee to be Obama." And the media for the same reason -- I think they see him as the easiest to beat in the GE.

[GarbagemanLB]

17. Yeah, Hillary, with 50% negatives, has a better shot at winning. LOL

[michreject]

44. I thought it was down to 47%

:evilgrin:

[kentuck]

8. Some Repubs are dumb...

Most of them want Hillary because she is their only chance of maintaining the White House. Nobody in America can unite the Republican Party like Hillary Clinton and they are presently a demoralized and apathetic bunch.

[calico1]

23. I agree.

It was very obvious to me from the first I started noticing this being done. But of course what some of his supporters believe is that many life long Republicans have just fallen head over heels in love with Obama.

[Justyce]

3. Repubs are only doing this to screw up our primary. I think those expecting

repubs to actually vote for Obama against McCain in the GE would be sadly disappointed. This election is really getting scary -- just the thought of a President McCain :scared:

[MNDemNY]

5. The rep. race is done, now they can screw with ours.

[Hepburn]

27. Do you have any Pubbie pals?

I do...and they HATE Hillary...I mean really, truly hate her. However, they like Obama or at least do not hate him. None of them are warm to McCain...but they have asked me for more information on Obama...which I, of course, have supplied.

I have worked in prez campaigns since I was 12 years old and took a bus down town to find the JFK headquarters and volunteered to work for him. My mega Pubbie parents were HORRIFIED. My point is that I have NEVER seen large numbers of Indies and conserve Pubbies seeking info about a Dem candidate because they might vote for him...until now.

As a Dem who has NEVER vote for a Pubbie...I would find it very, very difficult to vote for Hillary Clinton. If I feel that way after working in political campaigns for the Dems going on 50 years, imagine how the average Pubbie or Indie voter feels.

Just my 2-cents....

[griffi94]

9. my dad is voting for obama in the primary

no way in hell he'll vote for any democrat in nov. tho
obama won't win texas in the general election.....

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. Absent a strong third party candidate, neither Democrat has much chance in TX in November

The last time ANY Democratic candidate won state-wide in Texas was 1994.

[BenDavid]

10. Never quite understood if HRC would be the easier of the

two to beat in November why is it many on the right are suggesting republicans cross over and vote for obama?

[Hepburn]

28. Because they hate McCain and IMO are sending ...

...a message to their own party that they will not support him.

[Yael]

45. You may not have many republicans in your working/personal world

I do.

Many (not all) of them are sick of the neo-cons who hijacked their party, and as distasteful as it may be to them to vote against their "values", they are saying that this country is a mess and they are willing to give the left a chance to fix it.

They are willing to let go of that in order to give progressive ideals a shot.

I thought this is what we wanted GW Bush's legacy to be -- that his own base will move against them?

Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot.

[balantz]

11. This is a game.

We are screwn.

It will get ugly, and the M$M is chomping at the bit to turn on the O.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. wrong they were told to do this by Rove/Krystal/PNAC/ machine...heard it ordered on FOX yesterday

[Reciprocity]

13. FYI Texas has closed primaries.

Based on a permanent record of each voter's party affiliation, participation in each party's primary elections is restricted to those voters affiliated with that party.

[griffi94]

16. no they don't

you can register at the time you vote in the primary....if you want to vote in the democratic primary...all you have to do is tell the poll worker that you want to register as a dem....

[endarkenment]

19. Wiki says semi-open.

Texas - Semi-Open Primary (Mar 4) & Closed Caucus (begins Mar 4, schedule based on party rules). Voting in primary is prerequisite for caucusing at precinct convention, which convenes after primary polls close. Deadline (Feb 4, 2008).

Semi-open. All voters may vote in any single primary, but must publicly declare which primary they will vote in before entering the voting booth. Typically this declaration is accomplished by requesting a ballot. In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials record each voter's choice of party and provide the parties access to the information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_election

However this crossover nonsense is just an attempt to frame an Obama victory as invalid. It is massively dishonest.

[texas_indy]

20. Wrong. Texas has open primaries ...

http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/vce/0201.html

"Officially, Texas has closed primaries. But in practice, any registered voter may vote in the primary of any single party, as long as they have not voted in the primary of another party. Texas's primaries are closed in a less direct way: once a registered voter has in effect declared his or her party affiliation by voting for the nominees in a party's primary, that person cannot participate in the proceedings (for instance, a runoff primary or convention) of another party."

There is no permanent record kept. YOu can switch back and forth every primary if you want.


GOBAMA!!

[crispini]

34. Nope, wrong.

:hi:

[ctaylors6]

39. When you walk in to vote, you tell them which party, and that sticks for rest of election cycle

You do not pre-register or otherwise "register" for a party. You don't even have to change anything in next election cycle -- you simply tell them which ballot you want. I've voted in many primaries in Texas.

[endarkenment]

14. Won't matter much with respect to the outcome.

In Texas delegates are awarded by state senate district, proportional to the vote in that district, and each district is alloted delegates based on the number of Democratic voters in preceding presidential and gubernatorial elections. Heavily Democratic districts get more delegates than those that aren't. Crossover voting is thus unlikely to make a big difference even if there are large numbers of crossover votes, which is also rather unlikely.

[Yossariant]

15. It's called raiding. The opposition party crosses over to vote for the weakest candidate.

Nothing new and not surprising. It happens in open primaries.

[jasmine621]

18. This has been happening all across the primaries.

If the Dems don't learn from this primary that only Dems should get to choose their nominee we deserve whatever comes to us.

[endarkenment]

25. Like NH

Oh wait - Clinton won that open primary. I'm confused. Please explain.

[Arkansas Granny]

40. I've also wondered if this doesn't account for part of the record

turnouts that the Democrats have been reporting. Much of the turnout is undoubtedly because the prospect of a woman candidate or an AA candidate is pretty exciting, but I don't know that we can preclude the possibility that Republicans have tried to help nominate the Democratic candidate that they feel would be the easiest to win against.

[LiberalFighter]

51. Which is why presidential preference should be caucuses only and

only Democratic activists vote.

[goldcanyonaz]

21. How soon till Larry Sinclair turns up on O'Reilly? Night after Obama wins the nomination?

[Barack_America]

31. I say let's put him on the national stage...

...So his absolute craziness can be appreciated by all.

There's nothing there, and you know it.

[Blue_State_Elitist]

22. Disgusting that Republicans have so much influence in our primary.

The same assholes that voted for Bush twice now get to help us decide on our candidate.

[endarkenment]

48. They don't. nt.

[Lisa0825]

24. Texas was a Democratic state once upon a time.

maybe they are just coming back into the fold now that they are tired of the beating they have taken by "compassionate conservatism" themselves? I say WELCOME BACK! Now, let us show you how much better this state and country can be with us in charge!

[Renew Deal]

26. They're voting for Hillary in Wisconsin

"I was listening to conservative talk radio (while stuck in traffic) on the way up to Milwaukee for business this morning. A lot of people calling in to say they were tactically voting for Hillary. Not a lot of love for McCain on the radio."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Voting_today.html#comments

[Barack_America]

29. If they must, better that they vote against her in the primaries...

...than in the general election.

If you didn't believe before that Hillary would galvanize the GOP base, this should prove it for you.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

30. I haven't heard this one for almost twenty seconds.

#467. Republicans would rather vote run against Obama, so they vote for him now, even though he polls well-ahead of McCain and McCain polls well-ahead of Clinton.

[spin]

32. Maybe Republicans are just tired

of the policies of their party and the Bush administration.

They might just be exhausted by 20 years of Bushes and Clintons and don't want it to turn into 28 years. They could perceive Obama as representing real change.

A lot of people in this country would just like all the Bushes and Clintons to just GO AWAY1

[crispini]

33. I would completely agree.

There are a lot of Republicans I have talked to who are doing this.

[ctaylors6]

35. I know 2 republicans in tx voting for hillary to make the dem race last longer

[mod mom]

36. CINci Enq: OHIO GOP Roots for Hillary

Ohio GOP Roots For Hillary
Cincinnati Enquirer | Howard Wilkinson | February 18, 2008 09:11 AM



One of the worst-kept secrets of the Ohio presidential primary is that Republican Party leaders have a candidate they are rooting for on the Democratic side.

Her name is Hillary Rodham Clinton; and they believe that if she wins the Ohio primary and goes on to become the Democratic nominee, she will be the one who unites their dispirited and divided party and gives them their best chance of keeping the White House this fall.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/18/ohio-gop-roots-for-hillar_n_87154.html

EVERYTHING I READ IS JUST THE OPPOSITE-SAYING THEY WANT TO RUN AGAINST HILLARY TO DRAW OUT THEIR BASE.

[GoldieAZ49]

46. GOOD

for all the hand wringing hype about it, this seldom happens and has never had an impact on an election

nice way to prep an excuse for Hillary loosing ... oh it was that big bad vast right wing conspiracy

thats ok by me, I would rather see her loose very slowly

[TexasObserver]

49. Obama will win Texas because of record turnout of Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics.

He'll beat Hilly in every demographic except Hispanics over 40, women over 50, men over 60, and blacks over 70.