A record number of Repubs. changed registration in PA. Who wants to bet they're Limbaughians?

[jenmito]

This is sooooo unfair! Limbaugh is telling his huge audience to change their registration to Dem. in PA and NC to vote for Hillary, and now there's a reported RECORD number of Repubs. who changed parties in PA. Before Limbaugh came up with this "bright" idea, Repubs. who really LIKED the candidate were voting for Obama. Since he started this BS, HILLARY has been winning the Repub. vote and there's NO WAY all or even most or even many of those Repubs. are for her. They're Limbaughians, not Republicans. How can this be checked and stopped?!

[damndude]

1. should be investigated by the federal elections comssion...

but it's still controlled by the bush admin. so i would say we're stuck holding our breath waiting to see the impact

[MonkeyFunk]

19. why?

Is there something illegal about people changing party registration?

Should they investigate Obama's attempts to get people to reregister as Dems so they can vote for him?

[ClassWarrior]

29. Why do you feel this compulsion to defend Lush for pushing election fraud?

Why do you pretend you weren't a part of the thread yesterday that included proof that people committed vote fraud in Ohio, and that Lush could possibly be held liable? Hmmm??...

NGU.

[MonkeyFunk]

32. I'm not defending Rush

I'm pointing out simply that people who want to prosecute voters for this are being stupid.

Plus, since Obama gets more Republican votes than Clinton, it just could backfire on you if you try.

[ClassWarrior]

35. More name-calling and fear tactics. Let me guess who you support...

:rofl:

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

41. By the way, the only way prosecuting election crimes could "backfire" on me...

...(and on all of us, for that matter) is if they aren't pursued.

NGU.

[MonkeyFunk]

58. NOnetheless

the notion that the FEC should "investigate" voter fraud in PA based on this is stupid. It's not against the law in PA to change your registration, even if you do it for Rush Limbaugh.

You're on the losing end of this argument.

[grantcart]

2. People who change a month in advance are not doing it to fix the result

they like the candidate.

[damndude]

3. that's not necessarily true

i live in texas and the impact of limbaugh on the race here was very real. there was no noticeable groundswell of support for hillary, not compared to the enthusiasm you saw fro obama.

[jenmito]

6. Not true according to reports from TX. I even heard a voter-station worker being interviewed

say he's a Repub. and recognized some Repubs. who TOLD him they were going to vote for Hillary to stir up trouble.

[grantcart]

22. Tx had same day registrations - right?

There may be a few but it will not be significant - not when its a closed primary with registrations a month out

[Barack_America]

42. Unfortunately, grantcart, they are doing just that...

It's all over the news here in PA.

Election officials were recounting numerous individuals bragging about switching for the Limbaugh strategy while they were in the office. Why the hell they still let them switch, I'll never understand.

[flowomo]

4. not necessarily accurate....

In the part of PA where I live, the Republicans hold a 2-1 registration edge -- but many of them are actually fairly moderate, and a few are even quite liberal. They're Republicans because their mothers and fathers were Republicans, or it's just the thing to do around here. I could see a fair number of them being fired up by Obama or Clinton, and after looking at McCain, saying, "I want to do something for (her or him)", meaning Clinton or Obama. That's what's happening in some cases.

[Skink]

5. Does that stop them from voting republican in the Presidential contest?

[jenmito]

7. I don't think so. I think they can switch back for the GE.

[Tesha]

9. No, your vote in the primary has no legal bearing on your vote in the General election. (NT)

[BigDaddy44]

13. Of course not

Is this a serious question? Have you ever voted before? Do you know how it works?

[Skink]

15. Every state is different, Texas has a Primary and a Caucus.

Which almost makes sense.

[Tesha]

8. It can be stopped by changing to a national primary election.

Democrats have "worked" the primary process to the point
where it *ROUTINELY* drives out the good candidates and
ends up delivering a marginal-but-thoroughly-damaged
candidate to the General Election.

A single, national, mail-in primary could avoid this.

Some other strategies could as well.

And it's clear we have to do something.

Tesha

[stillcool]

27. A national election?

No face time with a candidate unless you live in a big state? Why bother with a Primary at all? Have every one running for President on one ballot and get it over with.

[BumRushDaShow]

51. If the party schedules a "national primary" in say May or June

then that means that the candidates can start campaigning in January and visit every state by election time. This puts the impetus on the candidate to make the time to visit the states that candidate feels are important to their campaign - not just in terms of the primary, but for name-recognition in a future GE. If a candidate purposely chooses to skip the small states, then that is a risk they choose to take of losing those votes later on... as the reality indicates time and time again, a few big states won't win the GE.

And should something like this be put in place, it might be a good idea for the national party to pump $$$ into every one of the state party offices specifically set aside to host one or more "meet the candidates" sessions in their states (perhaps along with a "courtesy ad buy" for all candidates), so that the candidates get a chance to visit EVERY state by default and have say a day or two period that includes an ad in each of the local ad markets during that "meet the candidate" session. After that, if that candidate chooses to return and campaign and buy ads, they fund-raise to pay for it. Any sponsored debates would occur as they do currently. The most aggressive candidates will survive the period and the less aggressive ones will sink - not because they were "chosen" by a specific-sized state, but because their message wasn't strong enough to garner the fund-raising to continue.

Ironically, some of the strongest ideologically progressive and popular candidates never make the cut because their campaign organization was just not there. How one deals with that fact is perhaps the real issue that is being danced around whenever this type of discussion comes up.

[WatchWhatISay]

10. Same thing happened in Texas, only

there is no registration so its perfectly legal. But you can bet they wont be voting Democratic in November.

[damndude]

16. this state is rigged in favor of republicans

that was the whole point of tom delays power base, redrawing congressional district maps in order to squeeze and dilute any democratic support. this is one of the reasons how we ended up with george bush as our governor over the great anne richards.

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. Ummm, you might want to have a word with Barack about this

Make sure you listen to him first before you call him up though at:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/pavoterreg

He talks to you from the page at his web site that says...

"Already registered as a Democrat? Invite your friends to register as Democrats by March 24th!"

...after he explains how non-Democrats (Republicans specifically mentioned) can register as a Democrat so that they too can "vote for change".


The link to that video of Obama urging party switching to support him is found embedded numerous times in this email that was sent around by Obama's campaign, captured in this instance by someone with the name of Teresa:


Dear Teresa,

Register to vote The Pennsylvania primary is only six weeks away, but there's another important deadline coming up even sooner.

Anyone who wants to vote on April 22nd must be registered as a Democrat by March 24th. If you are not currently registered or are registered in another party, you must register as a Democrat in order to vote for Barack.

This race is extremely close, and every vote matters. Make your support count by registering as a Democrat today:

http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote

If you're certain that you're already a registered Democrat, take a moment to invite five of your friends to register as Democrats so they can join you in voting in the Pennsylvania primary:

http://pa.barackobama.com/PArtv

This campaign has generated unprecedented enthusiasm all across the country. Hundreds of thousands of supporters have attended events, canvassed their neighborhoods, and organized their communities for Barack.

But the Pennsylvania primary is quickly approaching, and now's the time to turn our enthusiasm for Barack into votes.

Whether you are not registered or are registered as a Republican or in another party, make sure your voice is heard. The deadline to register as a Democrat is March 24th, but you can register today:

http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote

Thank you,

Angela

Angela Botticella
Pennsylvania Deputy Field Director
Obama for America

P.S. -- If you are a student currently living in Pennsylvania, you are eligible to register as a Democrat here and vote in the primary on April 22nd.

Register right now:

http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote

And if you know that you are a registered Democrat, invite five of your friends to register as Democrats in Pennsylvania and vote on April 22nd:

http://pa.barackobama.com/PArtv

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. Just to be clear. I think it is deplorable what Limbaugh is doing

but then again I don't support open primaries either, and I favor whatever can be done to prevent Party Switching for primary days.

However it is more than a little bit misleading to yell about a record number of Republicans switching to the Democratic primary this year while insinuating those voters must be Republican double agents voting for Hillary while Obama's own campaign has been vigerously recruiting Republicans in PA to switch over to vote for him also.

Could not that have a little bit to do with the record number of party switchers there this year? I can already see the groundwork being laid to help explain an Obama defeat in PA by claimming all the Republicans who switch to the Democratic Primary this year were sent there by Rush and therefor those votes should be subtracted from Clinton's winning total. No, unless Obama's campaign is totally ineffective (and I've seen no evidence of that) a whole lot of the Republicans who swithched to Democrat for this primary were asked to do so by no other than Barack Obama himself.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

26. So what? Hillary Clinton could do the same thing if she wanted.

Rush Limbaugh is a hostile third party who is trying to meddle in our primary. What about that don't you get?

[Tom Rinaldo]

31. Read my post immediately below my first one. n/t

[mrreowwr_kittty]

37. Again, so what? Rush Limbaugh needs to get the fuck out of our primaries!

Again, what about that don't you understand?

[Tom Rinaldo]

45. What don't you understand about: "I think it is deplorable what Limbaugh is doing"?

My point was that it's misleading to chalk up all the Republicans switching to Democrats for the primaries to Rush Limbaugh's urgings, when the Obama campaign itself is also out there getting Republicans to switch to being Democrats for the primary.

An Obama volunteer below made the same point. You are taking away from the credit owed Obama's campaign if you ignore their own voter registration efforst and say it's only due to Rush.

[jenmito]

50. You obviously can't see the VAST difference between what Rush is doing and what Obama is doing.

Rush is doing it for malevolent reasons. Obama's doing it to get people who really WANT him to win. Get it?

[Tom Rinaldo]

53. Yes I do. Read post #38

Get it?

[jenmito]

55. Post #38 is MY post.

:shrug:

[Tom Rinaldo]

57. Must have been the snipers that rattled me.

You weren't expecting that reply were you? lol.

OK, I MEANT my reply to post #38.

[jenmito]

59. I'm not surprised...

you seem to have a pretty good attitude about all this stuff. Did you read my reply to YOUR reply to my post #38?

[jenmito]

38. Ummm, apples and oranges...

There's nothing wrong with Repubs. who want to switch to Dem. because they want that Dem. to win. There's EVERYTHING wrong with Limbaugh Repubs. who want to switch to Dem. because they want to screw with our elections and vote for the person they think would be easier to beat in the GE.

[Tom Rinaldo]

49. I agree

My point is that you ommitted in your OP any mention of the fact that there was also an aggressive get Republicans to register as Democrats campaign being conducted in PA by the Obama campaign also that should be assumed has something to do with the record number of Republicans there switching parties. Your OP gives, in my opinion, the misleading impression that all those conversion statistics represent Rush recruiting false Democrats for a day. That simply is not true.

It would not matter so much except I can already anticipate that some Obama supporters might be tempted to claim that however many votes Clinton gets in PA, we need to subtract the toatl number of Republicans who switched their registration to Democratic from Hillary's vote total because of what Limbaugh attempted. That would be a patently false misreading, since obviously Obama also targetted getting Republican voters to switch registration for him. In Obama's case, as you point out, his efforts are sincere, in Limbaugh's case they are not. I deplore Limbaugh's efforts, but not every Republican who changes to vote Democratic in the PA primary will be voting for Hillary.

[jenmito]

54. My OP didn't mention the aggressive drive to get Repubs. registered by Obama because that

has nothing to do with my point. Obama has tried in EVERY state to get Repubs. who SUPPORTED him to VOTE for him. And in those early states, Obama has won the Repub. vote BIG. But ever since Limbaugh startes his mischief, HILLARY suddenly started nearly tying him among the Repub. vote AND the number of Repub. voters increased even more. That's why I'm worried about what's going on in PA.

[kentuck]

12. I doubt it.

He's a comedian. Right? Nobody would take him seriously. Not even his listeners.

But seriously, I think Rush would like to take credit for influencing the Democratic primary. However, I doubt you could find a half dozen Repubs that would change Parties to vote the way Rush wants them to. I believe most of these folks recognize the damage done by the Republican Party in the last eight years and they want no more of it. They had bought into the Republican BS and now they see the light. Chances are that most of these new voters will vote for Obama...which should make PA very interesting.

[Hugabear]

17. If Limbaugh has no effect on his listeners, then how does he keep his sponsors?

Evidently his listeners support his sponsors.

[Hugabear]

14. This is clear voter fraud - Limbaugh needs to be indicted

How can this be allowed to stand?

[EFerrari]

18. Because the crime would be intent and intent is hard to prove. n/t

[hughee99]

36. Absolutely! Democrats would never engage in such actions

nor would Democrats in Michigan and Florida, who were told that their vote wouldn't be counted by the DNC, vote in the repuke primary with no intention of voting for a repuke in the GE. We would also not have anything to do with vote swapping, where a person in a "safe" state agrees to vote for Ralph Nader, so he can get his 5% for matching funds, with a Nader voter in a swing state so we can push the Democratic candidate over the top there.

If you want to fix the problem, change the primary registration and voting structure. I'm not in favor of indicting anyone for encouraging sleazy, though legal, tactics in the primary.

What do you do about the candidates, or their surrogates, who themselves have also encouraged such voters to switch?

[politicallore]

20. IT IS NO DIFFERENT!!!! THEN WHAT THE CANDIDATES DO THEMSELVES!!! READ

My republican friends get calls all the time, urging them to vote for a Democrat candidate... It is extremely easy to see if they are registered republicans... The candidates are doing the SAME Thing... they know these folks are republicans..,. yet they target them because the republican race is up...

[Tom Rinaldo]

24. Obama is recruiting Republicans to switch in his own video

See post #11 above for the link.

[jenmito]

40. "Democrat candidate"? Only Repubs. use that term. And can't you see the difference

between recruiting Repubs. who would SUPPORT the candidate and having Repubs. vote for Dems. they DON'T support just so they could try to get the easier candidate elected?

[politicallore]

43. You CANNOT See the Difference... what are you gonna do , hook everybody up to a lie detector test???

There is no difference... a vote is a vote... You cannot prove why someone crossed over... you will be hanging the wrong people...

[jenmito]

56. Of course you can't tell someone's intent by looking at them (unless it's Coulter or Limbaugh or

Ingraham going into the voting booth). But of COURSE there's a difference. The scary thing is that a vote IS a vote-whether it's a sincere vote or NOT.

[politicallore]

60. The truth is most votes are not sincere... they are all "strategic" so... what really is the ,,,

Difference?

[Liberal In Texas]

21. Can't somebody get a list of regestration changes in the last 2 months

and challenge them at the polls.

It's what the repukes do.

[JimGinPA]

25. The Obama Campaign Volunteers Have Been Working For Weeks In PA...

Registering new voters and switching independents. Some repubs who either are sick of the war in Iraq or just don't like McSame have switched, but they are a very small percentage. The OP gives Limpballs, credit instead of the thousands of volunteers around the state who nearly doubled our goal of 100,000 new democrat voters.

[harun]

30. I am in PA and I agree, nice post (n/t)

[jenmito]

33. I hope you're right. I'm just going by articles I've read and reports I've heard.

And in TX Hillary suddenly had nearly as many Repub. votes as Obama.

[Barack_America]

47. Of the hundreds of voters I registered, I registered ONE Republican switcher.

And he switched to Democrat to vote for Obama.

He thought he would end up voting for McCain in the general, but he was really intrigued by Obama and wanted to make sure he'd have McCain and Obama as his options.

I thought that was pretty noble and I have no regrets about assisting his application.

[harun]

28. R's are switching to D's in PA because being an R sux and

they will be voting for Obama. Nobody listens to what Limbaugh says anymore.

[kentuck]

34. Basically true.

In my opinion.

[spinbaby]

39. That's right

I know four former Republicans who switched just to vote for Obama.

[Barack_America]

44. Really, it's a mixture.

Republicans switching because they're just done with that party.

-and-

Republicans switching because of Limbaugh's bullshit.

[harun]

52. Yah, probably a bit of a mix (n/t)

[wowimthere]

46. These kinds of tricks are exactly why Clinton can't get my vote...

That means the republicans have won. They have won if I give her my vote. I can't do that.

[BumRushDaShow]

48. Over here in the SE part of the state

in the rim counties of Philly, the repuke switchovers are not so much ditto heads but the ones I know of have openly voiced their disdain for Bushco (which actually goes along with some of the old-school repuke sentiments as voiced by the George Wills and Peggy Noonans). There are still alot of Reagan repukes and Reagan Dems around and after 8 years of the anti-Reagan pResident (who created big (contractor-loaded) gov't, embraced fiscal irresponsibility, destroyed the Constitution, and are anti-States Rights), they claim they have had enough.