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Because in the past, the Democrats were much better at GOTV than we were. High turnout means someone's GOTV efforts are working well; since the Dems used to beat us in that, high turnout effectively meant more Dems at the polls. This was true right up through 2000.

After 2000's results, however, Karl Rove got tired of letting the Rats beat us at turnout. The RNC instituted a massive new GOTV program. In 2002, Republican GOTV utterly crushed Democratic efforts, which is one of the reasons GOP candidates across the board handily beat their final poll numbers. Meanwhile, the unions—the traditional backbone of Dem GOTV—are decidedly less enthusiastic about supporting the Rats these days, so their efforts are somewhat diminished.

In this election, the same efforts are underway, so merely high turnout will favor the GOP. Only if the turnout utterly smashes all historical records—15% or more higher than the last election—will it mean that Democrats have caught up to GOP in GOTV. If the media talk about "high" turnout, or even "record" turnout, it means we're winning. Only pay attention if the media talk about "astonishing" or "unprecedented" turnout.