Posted on 10/14/2006 10:44:19 AM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON -- In the battle for control of Congress, Democrats hope enthusiasm trumps Republican efficiency.
Otherwise, they concede, they will have problems on Nov. 7 as a party still struggling to catch up with the GOP's ability to turn voters out of seeming thin air.
"Makes me green with envy," says Ellen Malcolm, the president of EMILY's List, which backs female candidates who support abortion rights. She was speaking of the Republican Party program that relies on reams of polling data, publicly available information and consumer choice records to identify likely GOP voters in even the most Democratic precincts.
Republicans most recently put their prowess on display in California, where they turned out enough conservatives in June to elect Brian Bilbray to the House, and a few months later in Rhode Island, where they motivated moderates and independents to vote for Sen. Lincoln Chafee in a primary.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
seriously....the title reads as though people getting out to vote is a bad thing...
That's all well and good, but perhaps part of the voter turnout disparity is that Republicans actually offer something to vote for - ideas, people, principles - where all the dems have is their "hate Bush" whining.
Dont say that too loud Mehlman might lose his job. The Republicans have their 72 hour machine that they utilize to turn out the vote. It's what enabled Bush to generate a huge increase in voter turnout in 2004. It is a database fool. It's not party bosses giving walking orders.
Republicans use it to focus direct mail, telephone calls, and personal contacts on those most likely to vote Republican regardless of whether they live in typically Democrat areas. It consists of focused direct mail based upon magazine subscriptions (i.e., people in Michigan who subscribe to snowmobile magazines are targeted with messages about how the Dem wants to restrict snowmobile usage). This is done no matter whether the recipient lives in the bluest of blue cities within a blue state. By targeting likely Republican voters in blue areas they can increase statewide Republican vote needed to put the senatorial candidates over the top. Dems cant do this. They lag well behind in developing the database. So they devote their efforts to getting out the vote in traditional Dem areas (inner cities and strong labor areas).
Yeah, I have seen their stuff. Their mailouts arrive Wednesday after Tuesday polling.
Do you folks not realize that our 72 hour program that they were referring to in the article is worth 5% in the public opinion polls. It's how we pull victories out when no one thought it was possible. It's how Bush was able to get a huge increase in turnout in 2004, way out doing all the Dem efforts they put into registering new voters. Besides being on the right side of the issues and generally having more dollars for ads, it's what leads Republicans to victory after victory. Dont belittle it. The Dems fear it for a reason. Candidates come in fourth.
You're absolutely right! Thanks for the rephrase.
Don't forget our biggest database. Guns!
Yahhh...no that's not true. Read up on what we did in 2002 and 2004. If there are Party Bosses it's not real obvious.
That's why it's such a good operation. Silent but deadly.
In fact, if anybody is running the Republican Party at all it's not real obvious.
Yah...you should actually get involved sometime beyond posting on FR.
Turn out! Turn out! Lock your liberal friends in the basement ala Cartman and make sure your Republican friends get themselves to the polls.
That 72 hour program defintely helped Bush in Pennsylvania, though he couldn't carry the state. He carried some counties that no Republican carried since 1972, like Greene, Mercer and Cambria counties, two of which lay in Murtha's district. In an off year election, that could make the difference.
No, no, no. Get it right. D votes come from graveyards and altzheimers units, not out of thin air.
:)
Ok, everybody. Look. We don't want things to get out of control. That would be ...well ...bad. So...we need to dampen our enthusiasm here and reduce our expectations just a little, Okay?
The Youth Vote was going to make The Difference.
Except that they were home watching videos.
Yep. Translation: "All that horse crap we've been feeding you about the polls showing the GOP losing? That didn't factor in actual voting."
I'll definitely be at the polling place, and I guarantee you I won't be voting for no egg-sucking Democrat. Not at gunpoint. If the Dems goal was to discourage Republicans from voting because of a few sleazy pols, they have another thought coming. I just wish I could figure out a way to vote twice like Dems have. Or create them out of thin air like they do in Wisconsin.
All of this is in preparation for the 72-hour GOTV walks and drops and phones. Now, if you think any of this happens without preparation, without organization, and without leadership, you're demented. And the key is, the Dems have NONE OF THIS. NO ONE has seen any Dem walkers, lit drops, ANY kind of ground game at all. They are still relying on the Moveon.org idiots.
This is why numbskulls believe the polls that are posted here---because many of them aren't actually "in the game."
You may not like it, but the stats show that this is OVERWHELMINGLY effective, largely because people tend to vote for the last name they hear . . . if they vote. And if you're reminded the day or night before the election, more often than not you actually make time to vote, as opposed to "get around to it," in which case many people don't. Them's the numbers.
Absolutely right. It works, pure and simple. It is incredibly effective.
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