Hotline has some more bad news for the Democrats:
Turnout among Dem voters dropped precipitously in 3 statewide primaries on Tuesday, giving the party more evidence that their voters lack enthusiasm ahead of midterm elections.In primaries in NC, IN and OH, Dems turned out at far lower rates than they have in previous comparable elections.
How bad?
Just 663K OH voters cast ballots in the competitive primary between LG Lee Fisher (D) and Sec/State Jennifer Brunner (D). That number is lower than the 872K voters who turned out in ’06, when neither Gov. Ted Strickland (D) nor Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) faced primary opponents. Only 425K voters turned out to pick a nominee against Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC). The 14.4% turnout was smaller than the 444K voters — or 18% of all registered Dem voters — who turned out in ’04, when Gov. Mike Easley (D) faced only a gadfly candidate in his bid to be renominated for a second term. And in IN, just 204K Hoosiers voted for Dem House candidates, far fewer than the 357K who turned out in ’02 and the 304K who turned out in ’06.
It looks like ObamaCare didn’t do much to rev up the base. Well, maybe people are just turned off politics, cynical, and disgusted with all politicians. Uh — no. The GOP is fired up and ready to go:
By contrast, GOP turnout was up almost across the board. 373K people voted in Burr’s uncompetitive primary, nearly 9% higher than the 343K who voted in the equally non-competitive primary in ’04. Turnout in House races in IN rose 14.6% from ’06, fueled by the competitive Senate primary, which attracted 550K voters. And 728K voters cast ballots for a GOP Sec/State nominee in Ohio, the highest-ranking statewide election with a primary; in ’06, just 444K voters cast ballots in that race.
It is reminiscent of the 2008 race. Then, too, Obama drove hordes of voters to the polls. This time, it just happens to be hordes of voters for the other party who want to check the radical agenda Obama hid in 2008.
You’d think somebody name el gordo would remember Mike Huckabee who came in second while spending a lot less that the other two major candidates.
It’s amazing that the conservative movement has determined that only people from the blueist of blue states or graduates of the leftist of left universities qualify as genuine conservatives.
Am I the only person in America who finds that odd?
Oh my non-Southern Baptist God! Isn’t it amazing and odd that anyone would want to allow Uriah H. Huckabee within miles of the White House?
“What counts is not income or upbringing but an appearance of humility, respect for people and the ability to speak their language (which is btw not the same as faking a regional accent).”
I’m sorry but I disagree. It obviously doesn’t count for Obama. He’s the antithesis of this description and he’s in a two man race for the presidency. His upbringing is celebrated by his followers, he behaves as though he were the Messiah, he holds the public in contempt (especially his worshippers) and he cant speak”ebonics” or use current slang worth a damn.
Different people care about different things, but most people choose the candidate they feel closest to. Snot nosed kids, racist Blacks, politically correct fanatics, outright Marxists and guilt tripping Whites feel closer to Obama. Most other people feel closer to McCain.
Greg, my point is not to defend “blue staters” but that the people don´t give a damn. Background isn´t destiny. That´s why it doesn´t matter how many houses McCain´s wife has.
Huckabee´s relative success proves my point. It wasn´t his background, though, it was his excellent ability to communicate. But some of his populist arguments hurt him because they made him look class-conscious when the trick is to transcend class. He is “one of us” but he must get rid of the “us vs. them” shtick. The evidence is that it puts more Americans off than it attracts.
You can call George W. Bush a blue-blooded millionaire and a bad communicator, and you´d be right, and Democrats surely tried the class warfare route in 2000 but the fact is, he won every election and he comes across as basically decent and relate-able. He ran as a compassionate conservative but he didn´t blame any class. He has no “them”. Bush gets America, certainly more so than Gore or Kerry.
As for Obama, I´m not saying he has no followers (obviously) but we´ll see how many “snot nosed kids, racist Blacks, politically correct fanatics, outright Marxists and guilt tripping Whites” (to quote Rininger) there are. Obama has always used the “us vs. them” rhetoric of class warfare, he has always assigned blame, the new twist was that he didn´t name the enemy, keeping it vague. The more he tells us who “they” are – as he eventually must – the more this whole uniter and new politics nonsense goes down the drain and he will be running against a sizeable part of America.