Will The Republicans Help Hillary Win Pa

[democracy1st]

Texas Delegate Count
Obama 99 Clinton 94

Ohio Delegate Count
Clinton 74 Obama 67

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

Spurred by conservative talk radio, GOP voters who say they would never back Clinton in a general election are voting for her now for strategic reasons: Some want to prolong her bitter nomination battle with Barack Obama, others believe she would be easier to beat than Obama in the fall, or they simply want to register objections to Obama.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/17/many_voting_for_clinton_to_boost_gop/



The Limbaugh Effect on Clinton’s Texas Win
Susan Davis reports on the presidential race.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh led a campaign to have his Republican followers in Texas cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the state’s open primary last Tuesday. Why? Because Limbaugh thinks Republicans can defeat Clinton in a general election. Plus, watching Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama bloody each other in a nomination fight is pure sport for Limbaugh conservatives.

According to exit polls, Clinton won a notably higher number of Republican voters than she has in past open primary contests. Of the 9% of voters who identified themselves as Republicans in the Democratic Primary, Obama still edged Clinton 53%-46%. However, that margin is significantly slimmer than earlier contests. In Wisconsin’s open primary, for instance, Republicans broke 72%-28% for Obama. Similarly, in Virginia’s open primary, Obama was favored 72%-23%.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/06/the-limbaugh-effect-on-clintons-texas-win/


Limbaugh Urges Texas Republicans to Vote for Clinton

if the Democratic race remains unsettled for weeks to come. “I want Hillary to stay in this…this is too good a soap opera,” Limbaugh told fellow conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham on Fox News Friday. He reiterated the comments on his Monday show and replayed the exchange with Ingram.


He also said Clinton is more willing than the Republican National Committee and John McCain’s campaign to criticize Barack Obama. “We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically. It’s obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it, they don’t have the stomach for it,” Limbaugh continued. “As you probably know we’re getting all kinds of memos from the RNC saying we’re not going to be critical. Mark McKinnon of McCain’s campaign said he’ll quit if they get critical over Obama. This is the presidency of the United States we’re talking about. I want our party to win I want the Democrats to lose.”

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2008/03/limbaugh_urges_texas_republicans_to_vote_for_clinton/



Video

Limbaugh urges OH, TX Republicans to vote for Clinton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHDXI3bVUCQ

[Zynx]

1. Closed primary and I doubt that Republicans en masse would change registration just for mischief.

[papau]

9. besides in an open primary Obama "draws" GOP votes as the GOP wants an Obama win

[4themind]

2. It depends upon how many of them had the foresight to register last month

because unlike Texas(IIRC), PA is a closed primary. Some rethugs may have switched over, but I worry less about their high-jinx when they can't just decide the day of the vote, to go do it

[IsItJustMe]

3. It's a serious question. I do not have any insider information, but it would be curious if anybody

else did.

[Frances]

7. I heard on the radio that over 60%

of those who changed registration from Republican or Independent to Democrat were supporting Obama.

[mystieus]

4. probably.. but not as many because its a close primary.

They did in Texas but forgot to caucus tee hee

[Petey Wheatie]

5. Float that balloon, Obamite! I sense a big defeat for him too. But this one is all HIS fault. n/t

[GoesTo11]

10. You mean Hillary has nothing to do with it?

[Erin Elizabeth]

6. Pennsylvania has a closed primary.

Closed. Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. Note that due to the appropriation of the term "independent" by some political parties, the term "non-partisan" is often used to refer to those who are not affiliated with a political party.


The deadline to register or change your registration was almost a month ago. So unless they switched then, they can't now. In open and semi-open primaries (Texas is an open primary) you see more party line crossing because you don't register by party in those states. People are less willing to actually change their official party affiliation to vote in a primary, even if they can change it back later. Just voting in an open primary is much easier for someone of the other party.

This is all my way of saying you probably won't see too much of that in Pennsylvania at all. And 110,000 across the state of Texas isn't much, considering that this past primary broke records here. It was ginormous.

[Erin Elizabeth]

8. Oh and Ohio's primary was semi-open

and Mississippi's was open, same as Texas. Those kinds, again, are quite easy to cross over for. And percentage-wise, you didn't see huge numbers in those states.

So I would think in a state in which you would have to actually apply to change your party affiliation a month in advance, you will see a much much smaller number. I'd be surprised if even a few thousand in the whole state of Pennsylvania did it.