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Sunday, July 13, 2008
Democrats coming out of the woodwork
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While most of the polls show a fairly tight presidential race, it doesn’t feel that way. As I mentioned in comments a while back, the body language and attitude of the Obama campaign indicate they believe Obama’s going to win, while the language and attitude of the McCain camp also indicate they believe Obama will win.
And maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t remember polls showing such widely divergent results, with some showing an Obama lead of 3 or 4 points and others claiming an Obama lead of 15 or so. Here’s a news story from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that suggests one reason why this race has been difficult to pin down.
“An escalating number of voters registering as Democrats is providing evidence that the 2008 election could produce a wave of support for Barack Obama — and trigger a decades-long shift of party allegiance that could affect elections for a generation.
The numbers are ominous for Republicans: Through May, Democratic voter registration in Broward County was up 6.7 percent. Republican registrations grew just 3 percent while independents rose 2.8 percent.
Democrats have posted even greater gains statewide, up 106,508 voters from January through May, compared with 16,686 for the Republicans.
“It’s a huge swing,” says Marian Johnson, political director for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “I looked at that and said, ‘Wow.” “
A gain of 90,000 voters for Democrats is a large number in Florida, where elections have been excruciatingly close. It also reflects a difference in passion among the two parties that could have repercussions all the way down the ticket to dogcatcher.
