Posted on 10/03/2008 5:07:19 AM PDT by Bill Dupray
"Experts such as Paul Gronke of the Early Voting Information Center predict nearly a third of the electorate will vote early this year, up from 15% in 2000 and 20% in 2004. In closely contested Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, about half the voters are expected to cast ballots before Election Day. Florida could be 40%."
The early voters are the folks who have known who they're voting for since June anyway. Do you have any real proof that the early vote totals differ from the votes cast on election day?
The primary benefit of early voting is increased turnout. I attend local Rep meetings on the county and district levels and was a delegate to the state Rep convention. The Reps are pushing early voting for just that reason, i.e., increasing the turnout. The Dems are doing the same thing. Elections are won primarily by turnout.
Obama has set up offices in all 52 VA counties compared to 10 McCain offices statewide. They have a formidable ground game. To deny that is just not recognizing how this can impact an election. We don't have registration by party in VA so it will be difficult to get the kind of data you want. High turnout usually helps the Dems more than the Reps. 2004 was an exception in that regard.
It must be tough being scared of everything.
LOL. I am sorry I made you uncomfortable by providing you with a dose of political reality.
I think you're wrong, because this election is different. Your comment is based upon straight party-line voting. This one's different in that I know of quite a few Dems who might vote for McCain if they are convinced he has the answers. I think the turnout will be the highest in recent history...I don't worry about that. What I worry about is what they do in that little booth when they close the door.
It's political reality because you say so? How much are you being paid to run a campaign.
Resources are finite. You have to use them in the most efficient manner possible. That means focusing on the bulk of voters that still vote on election day.
Once again, the early voters already have their minds made up anyway. That's a political reality that apparently makes you very uncomfortable.
It is still about turnout regardless of who people are voting for. Unless the candidate can get people into the voting booth who support him, he will lose. Until Palin entered the race, McCain could not energize his base. Obama has energized this base primarily thru money, organization, and race.
April Fools joke:)
Early voting is a positive for the party that can get their voters into the booth sooner rather than later. Once they vote, they can't change their minds or stay home.
It's political reality because you say so? How much are you being paid to run a campaign.
Please. Give me a break. I am politically active. I have been a volunteer, poll watcher, and a contributor. I listen to what the people who are being paid to run campaigns say to us activists.
Resources are finite. You have to use them in the most efficient manner possible. That means focusing on the bulk of voters that still vote on election day.
Dids I say otherwise. I will tell you that we are encouraging early voting and absentee voting, especialy among college students away from home and military personal, although in VA you must vote in person the first time you vote absentee as a college student. Lots of resources are being devoted to early voting.
Once again, the early voters already have their minds made up anyway. That's a political reality that apparently makes you very uncomfortable.
Not the least for the reasons cited above. The only thing that makes me personally uncomfortable, and it comes from growing up in Hudson County NJ is the possibility of fraud and ballot box stuffing. I prefer to vote on election day and not rely on someone taking my ballot and storing it physically or electronically. But both parties are pushing early voting to lock up their votes and ensure that their voters vote. It is all about turnover.
It's called "setting the record straight." The Dems have been mud-slinging since the bailout was first broached. It is time for the Republicans to fight back, but whether they have the guts to do it is another story.
Hillie's been out of sight almost as much as Michelle Obama.
The bailout bill is larded with pork, i.e., earmarks. McCain has railed against earmarks. He should have voted against the bill saying that he would not vote for it for that reason. McCain is undermining his own position.
If the bill passes the House and signed by the President after going thu conference, how can McCain criticize a bill he and Obama voted for?
Remember, McCain is all about country first. And I take him at his word even when I disagree with him on what's really best for the country.
By voting FOR a bill larded with pork, how is that putting country first?
>>The train has left the station. McCain missed it. He had plenty of opportunity to talk about it during the first debate but chose to concentrate on $18 billion of earmarks. McCain voted for the Senate bailout/rescue bill that is larded with pork, i.e., earmarks. ‘Nuff said.<<
That was not the “economy” debate.
Save your “we missed the opportunity” comments until after the opportunity actually comes.
McCain had a perfect opportunity to go after Obama on the issue and decided instead to go make earmarks his main focus not the existential crisis that he deemed so important to suspend his campaign over. The country [and Obama] was seized with the issue. McCain was not.
If McCain was saving his ammo for the second debate, he made a major mistake that could very well have cost him the election. His poll numbers plummeted. And with early voting in full swing, that could have all ready affected some votes. It is very difficult to recapture momentum in the last few weeks of a campaign. If history is any guide, fewer people will watch the next two debates.
Yes, the “first 30 minutes” were off topic. Wait until the economy debate. If he fails the REAL opportunity, then I will agree with you.
People will get it if they see Ayer's picture, standing on the Flag with a smug look on his face. Just do an ad with that picture followed by the picture of Obama holding his crotch during the Pledge of Allegiance or National Anthem. Unload on them.
Play the closing words of Palin last night about the hope and pride she has in America and follow with Obama saying America is, "Not what it was, not what it can be." Show the creep apologizing for and knocking down the United States on his world tour. Make him pay politically for the hateful relationships he has kept. This is the stuff that will change the minds of those who are on the fence.
You still don't get it. The first 30 minutes were ON TOPIC, the other hour off of it. McCain had taken the unprecedented step of suspending his campaign because this issue threatened the nation with another Great Depression. He even threatened not to show up at the first debate because it detracted from his attention on the matter. The President and Congress deemed the issue a crisis that needed to be addressed urgently. The President had Obama and McCain plus Congressional leaders come to the WH. The economy and the economic meltdown of our financial institutions were THE topic for the American people, not some schedule of subjects for Presidential debates drafted and agreed to weeks before by campaign advisors.
You seem to want to cling to a Presidential debate schedule that had been drafted and agreed to weeks before. Conditions changed. Obama was loaded for bear on the crisis, which he blamed on Bush and the Reps, while McCain seemed oblivious to the significance of the issue to the voting public. Instead, he chose to address earmarks. This is a case of missing the boat. McCain now paying the price for that major blunder.
I get it. Wait and see after the economy debate.
In a football game, I really want to know who is ahead at the end of the fourth quarter, not halfway through the third quarter.
I am no McCain fan, but the man is not as stupid as some here would say.
And trust me, the economic meltdown of our financial institutions will STILL be THE topic for the american people for some time to come. Plenty of opportunity for McCain to bring out the 12 guage when he has the room to let her rip. The last debate was the wrong place for that.
You mean the second economy debate.
The next debate is a Townhall meeting format on October 7. It will cover issues raised by the audience in attendance and by questions over the Internet. The third and final debate will be on October 15 and the focus will be Domestic and Economic Polices. With early voting, up to a third of the voters could have voted by October 15.
And trust me, the economic meltdown of our financial institutions will STILL be THE topic for the american people for some time to come. Plenty of opportunity for McCain to bring out the 12 guage when he has the room to let her rip. The last debate was the wrong place for that.
We will agree to disagree. McCain missed the best opportunity to bring it up.
Never underestimate McCain's innate ability to suddenly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by mouthing off about Al Gore and climate change, voting for an overtly Socialist bailout of Wall Street, or reigniting amnesty for illegals.
The only reason that McCain has not imploded yet is that his handlers were smart enough to bring in Palin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.