Posted on 11/11/2008 11:38:33 AM PST by fightinJAG
Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win over Chesapeake voters. That was 1976.
So it surprised a few people when Barack Obama edged by Republican John McCain in Chesapeake last week by 1,369 votes.
Chesapeake has been a conservative stronghold for three decades. But on Nov. 4, this traditionally Republican city turned blue - and local Democrats say the Obama victory here was no stroke of luck.
With the help of paid Obama staffers who swooped in to Chesapeake in the months leading up to the election, Democrats say, they made an organized effort to increase the number of registered voters in precincts with a high percentage of minorities.
That effort appears to have paid off. In the last five months alone, nearly 2,680 new voters registered in a half dozen Chesapeake precints that ended up delivering about 12,000 votes for Obama and only 1,400 for McCain.
“That 1,369 margin, you could easily attribute it to the fact that minority precincts went overwhelmingly for Obama,” said Al Spradlin, chairman of the Chesapeake Electoral Board.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
Rove was right.
ACORN!
Ground game — it’s all about the ground game. The Dems had it (ACORN notwithstanding) and we didn’t. We need to enshrine that as a lesson-learned item for next time.
That effort appears to have paid off. In the last five months alone, nearly 2,680 new voters registered in a half dozen Chesapeake precints that ended up delivering about 12,000 votes for Obama and only 1,400 for McCain.
So Republicans voted only once and Democrats ten times each?
Obama outspent McCain $650m to $84m or roughly 8 to 1. Get out the vote drives are one area in which money makes a big difference. I still can’t believe McCain went for Federal financing. What a dope.
money talks
I'm guessing that several thousand of those O votes are fraudulent and Cheasapeake is still red.
I hope you are right.
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