Posted on 05/17/2008 8:49:18 PM PDT by txhurl
COLUMBUS, Ohio (ASSOCIATED PRESS) -
The number of Republicans who switched sides to vote for Democrats in Ohio’s March 4 presidential primary easily eclipsed President Bush’s 120,000-vote margin of victory in the state that decided the presidency four years ago, documents released Monday show.
Although a small portion of total voters, the 173,000 people who previously voted Republican but voted Democratic in the primary could be an important group in the November election, when Ohio is again expected to be crucial.
The party-switching in 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties with data available could be a sign of excitement about Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. But not all of these voters can be counted on to again vote Democratic against presumptive Republican nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain.
Some of the crossover voters felt their choice counted more on the Democratic side because McCain had all but won the Republican nomination. Some said they disliked Clinton so much that they wanted to vote against her. And some of the wild-card voters sought by both sides are still torn, but they voted in the Democratic contest to try to make sure each party had a nominee they could potentially support. The reasons were varied and complex.
“I could not stomach to have another Clinton in the White House,” said Karen Purdy, one of the Republicans who switched. “I thought the country needed a fresh start and I thought Obama could do that.”
Purdy, of Elida in traditionally Republican Allen County in northwest Ohio, doesn’t know which candidate will get her vote in the fall. Her husband, Dennis, switched to help out Obama as well but is voting for McCain in November.
Republicans switching sides represented roughly 8 percent of the 2.2 million Democratic ballots that were cast in Ohio in a contest in which Clinton beat Obama by about 10 points. About four of every five voters who switched parties for the primary went from Republican to Democrat.
The election shattered Ohio primary turnout records, with about 3.5 million people voting - or about 45 percent of registered voters.
Democrats have pointed to high turnout across the nation as a sign that voters are discouraged with the Republican majority in Washington and eager to vote for Democratic candidates who would both make history. Clinton, whose campaign is now on the ropes after a large defeat in North Carolina and a slim win in Indiana, would be the first female president. Obama would be the nation’s first black president.
Interviews with crossover voters in Allen County showed a wide range of reasons for the switch.
The county, which has twice voted for President Bush by a two-to-one margin, was one of several previously Republican-dominated counties that had more Democrats than Republicans after the primary, due largely to the number of newly registered Democratic voters.
Voters in Ohio may choose a ballot from either party but generally must sign a statement saying they uphold the principles of that party. Once voters choose a particular ballot, they are considered members of that party.
Allen County went from having 5,527 registered Democrats before the primary to 14,503 after. Republicans went from 14,115 to 13,379. The county had 1,500 voters switch parties - 1,399 of them went from Republican to Democrat.
Democrats are banking on voters such as Janet and Tom Stalter of the Lima area, who have voted Republican for 50 years but switched in March to vote for Obama.
“We just decided we like Obama the best of the three and we think he can help our country,” said Janet Stalter, who quipped that her die-hard Republican grandfather was probably rolling over in his grave as she spoke. Clinton wouldn’t have gotten them to switch: “We’ve had enough of ‘slick Willy’ so to say.”
But Carla Zerbe is the kind of crossover voter the Democrats may lose unless the unlikely happens and Clinton wins the nomination. If Obama wins, she will vote Democratic if he chooses Clinton as a his running mate. If not, she will probably vote for McCain.
“I think his minister did it for me,” Zerbe said about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the man who served as Obama’s pastor and made several controversial statements, including that the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect blacks. Obama has since denounced Wright - Zerbe believes for political purposes.
“It’s a matter of loyalty and a matter of trust for me right now,” she said.
Lynn Gibson is still another version of the Ohio crossover voter. The “Harry Truman” Democrat switched to Republican for the first time in his life for local races, but he doesn’t plan to vote for any of the presidential candidates.
Obama and Clinton? “They’re socialists not Democrats,” Gibson said. McCain? “He’s a Democrat-light.”
“I’m tired of voting for someone who’s the lesser of two evils,” he said.
OC will skew DNC Stats/Tabulations for at least two years, until their actuaries figure out how to ignore the data.
OC quantified ping.
Wonder what his FR screename is.
How many precincts will it take for it to be a no-longer-good idea?
OC results.
I crossed over in TX voted for Hill... (blahhhck....puke sound) just to f#$^k with the numbers....
I have voted GOP for so long here that when I requested a Dem ticket the Old Girls at the table just smirked...
Muwhahaha...
Living in a “Peoples’ Republic”, I have voted in ‘rat primaries for quite a few years as it provides the only real input to the system.
We could say that tons of Democrats switched also. But that would be four of them.
Rush could have done a better job explaining this to those of us who wanted Hillary put down, and now that the dust is settling, we need to prep for OC '12, since McCain plans for only one term.
OTOH, I wish we had the primary system the rats have. That way Crist couldn't have given us McCain.
Like a very wise freeper underlined, primary raiding is for the big boys, and this year we could have inflicted even more chaos if we'd had better forecasting skills.
I used to disdain this rat practice until I woke up and McCain was my 'man'.
Not that I won't vote for McCain. I'm just not principled anymore and want to re-gift the rats what they've been giving for the last 10 GEs or so.
What if ALL these people interviewed actually voted for the wife of the Rapist, as part of Operation Chaos, wouldn’t they have said all the sorts of things they told this reporter: “We’re voting for Obama in November,” “I just can’t vote for McCain,” etc.?
Yet Obama carried only 4 of Ohio's 88 counties. The other factor was the lack of male votes on the Democratic side. 59 percent of the democratic voters were female and only 41 percent male.
I believe that the fall election will show that the number of votes Obama got in the primary election this year will be almost the same number of votes he will get in the fall.
My Dad was one of 14 members of the Ohio Democratic Central Committee long before there was much polling. He made it a point to talk to several hundred people before each election. The people he talked to were from Republican and Democratic groups. He was always able come very close to predicting the percentage of the vote each candidate would receive. I use the techniques he taught me 58 years ago.
I have done the things Dad taught me and in 2004 my results came very close to the actual returns.
In 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 and 2008 both parties and the media consider my home town of Chilicothe Ohio the bellwether community. The vote in Chillicothe has for years paralleled the state wide vote.
In 2004 the media was all over this town trying to figure out how Chillicothe Ohio was going to go. Because they knew that the candidate that won Chillicothe in 2004 would be our president. It was quite close as it was state wide.
This year it is amazing. Obama will be lucky to win 40 percent of the Chillicothe vote. Right now he would lose 60 to 40. The white working class Democrats will not vote for him. It is not that they are for Hillary, they are not. They will NOT vote for Obama in the fall. They did not like Hillary but they voted for her so Obama would not win.
Some of them will vote for McCain in the fall. Some will not vote at all. The pollsters and the media think they will be like the past.. Democrats who were for the candidate who did not win the primary complained but voted for the one that did win the nomination in the fall.
This is the first year with a very liberal black candidate for the Democratic party. And a huge number of white working class Democrats will not vote for Obama. They fear him and will not vote for him. When compared to the economy, and the war in Iraq, the most important thing for these Democrats is to keep Obama from being our next president.
Normally, here in Chillicothe, one sees tons of Democrat signs for each candidate. But this year despite the large turn out there were only a few Obama signs put up by members of the largest black church, and a handful of Hillary signs. Yet Hillary got 70 percent of the vote here in Ross county.
Obama does not stand a snowballs chance in Hell of carrying Ohio. My soninlaw says the hourly workers talk at the plant where he works is all about defeating Obama. He said some 50 plus year old men who have never voted have registered to vote. They will vote for McCain. Not because they are for McCain but because they fear a president Obama
I have been closely watching elections in Ohio since 1948 I have never seen anything close to this situation Throw out the books and the assumptions based on past elections This is a brand new ball game, and neither the pollsters or the media are aware of what is going on.
Obama is going down.. and the media does not know it.
I have four years to psyche up for it.
We're not the stupid party, and if we have to get down with the sewer rats to turn it around, so be it.
A couple of concerns with Operation Chaos, the way I see it, is that with this futile push to prop up Hillary to take it to the convention for the “brawl”, many of us may have completely forgot (or were not able, if they were held simultaneously with Presidential primaries) to vote for local / state conservatives Republican nominees in the primaries.
Another possible negative effect could be that high visibility of Operation Chaos is driving many [usually young, politically apathetic and uninterested in voting] new voters to register as Democrats and vote for Obama which, in turn, will also get them to vote for him in general elections - now that they tasted the “political victory” and have a “stake” in Obama’s win in November.
I guess, detailed numbers by state could show how many Republicans have not voted in the primary elections this year vs overall registration numbers for Democrats compared with previous primaries (assuming, of course, that Republicans that registered as Democrats strictly for OC would otherwise showed up for vote as Republicans this time around).
It maybe impossible to figure this math out, but these are my concerns, along with the fact that we are looking more into messing up something in the opposition simply because Republican electoral process [and putative presidential nominee] has been so messed up itself.
Same here.
I live in the Peoples Republic of Minneapolis and I have frequently crossed over and voted in the Democrat primary for the reasons you described.
More often than not, it’s a choice between a Democrat who makes me sick 100% of the time versus a Democrat who only makes me sick 80% of the time.
But then there are the times I have voted in the Dem primary to help the least electable Dem win the primary so our GOP candidate can beat them in November.
Operation Chaos: Why Rush Limbaugh Was Right
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011242/posts
I still wonder if, come November, it might somehow be easier for these new Democrats to... vote for Democrats? Not necessarily for the office of President, but the countless other offices up for grabs across the nation.
And we have to do it now - make them understand we will select their '12 nominee in '10 unless they close them all.
Getting the RNC to close their primaries nation wide shouldn't be nearly as hard, after this year.
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