Posted on 11/03/2009 4:35:31 AM PST by ExNewsExSpook
An early voting report from Virginia's 1st Congressional District, epicenter for today's expected GOP tsunami in the Old Dominion.
I reside in York County, not far from Fort Eustis and the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center. The district is heavily Republican; John McCain got more than 60% of the vote here last year.
Polls open in Virginia at 6 a.m. I arrived at my voting place (a local elementary school) at 6:45. The parking lot was 80% full at that hour, and more cars were arriving by the minute. The level activity seemed comparable to what I saw during the most recent presidential election, although I voted later in the day in 2008.
Outside the precinct, the GOP had two pollworkers passing our sample Republican ballots. Demand was heavy; by comparison, the Democrats had just one representative handing out their sample ballots. With the exception of a few African-American voters, there were virtally no takers.
Inside the polling place, there were 20 people ahead of me in line. However, the ballot is short (governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and one race for the House of Delegates), so the line moved quickly. I was out the door at 6:50 a.m. and by that time, almost 200 people had voted at this particular precinct.
Outside the school, signs for the Republican team (Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli) outnumbered those for the Democratic candidates by at least an 8-1 margin. However, this is a solidly Republican district, so you'd expect to see that sort of advantage for the GOP.
For all FReepers in VA: you know your mission for today. Get out and vote, and put the Old Dominion back in the GOP column. And while you're at it, say a prayer for Chris Christie and Doug Hoffman.
These are ALL EXCELLENT REPORTS about Democrat disillusionment and lack of fire in the belly (problems they did NOT have in 2008) showing up early this morning in 2009. I hope the reports like this multiply.
Can we rename this a Live Thread for the day?
Any and all input from VA, NJ and NY-23 very helpful, along with polling hours.
Thanks
Get out and vote!
In California? Now? :)
In California? Now? :)
And IMHO it would also be wise for some Freepers on this thread to declare a ceasefire, knock off the in-fighting, or else take it to another thread.
Yes, agreed, this great, helpful thread should be Special Election 2009 Live Thread and also FRONTLINE POLL REPORTS--as we are getting these from Freepers real time. These are very, very interesting to read. Thousands of Freepers can be our eyes and ears and give us reports and sentiment right down to the precinct and poll level in NY, NJ, VA, CA and wherever. From what we are getting in VA this a.m., it is sure looking good (as expected, but still good to hear).
Obama being sent to the woodshed. I love it.
Will do. I was at the polls bright and early ready to kick corzine's butt out.
I live out-county in my NC county, so I don’t even have an election today.
[promised them lower taxes.]
Good point, I hope Christie can pull it off and I think he has a good chance IF voter fraud isn’t a factor.
The problem is Jersey doesn’t has nothing on Chicago when it comes to corruption.
I found this interesting note on wikipedia (for what its worth).
“Of note, in every Virginia gubernatorial election starting with 1977, the governor elected has been from the opposite party as the President elected by the nation in the previous year, even when Virginia had strongly voted for the President in question, as with Ronald Reagan.”
Ignore him, he and his party are irrelevant.
This election - including NY-23 - will show that conservatives' best vehicle is to work within and take back the GOP. Even Hoffman shows this (hey, who do you think gave him his boost? Conservative Republicans, that's who). If Hoffman had to rely only on the support of third partyists, he'd be at 3% instead of 53% right now.
I predict that is EXACTLY how the media is going to spin the coverage of McDonnell’s win.
Keep telling yourself that.
Virginia is easy win for GOP. Even ACORN has given up so the margin of victory is much larger than usual (with the usual voter fraud).
Unfortunately, NJ will go to Corzine. ACORN operatives have moved in and absentee ballot fraud is more widespread than ever (like NJ dems need help in voter fraud..). Christie looks like Coleman ie clueless and just letting it happen.
NY-23 will likely go to Hoffman. These sort of special elections are hard to predict though (not sure how easy voter fraud is there and how large network of friends/relatives etc dede has there).
Christie claims to be pro life too. The 2 previous GOP governors, Whitman and Kean, were pro choice. If Christie wins this will throw the pro aborts into a fit (along with so many others!) so for that reason alone it would be good to see him win, even if he has other shortcomings.
I’m hoping for a miracle big turnout for Christie, but I agree with your analysis. Virginia will be called for McDonnell by the national media the instant the polls close, but New Jersey could be an “all-nighter” as the ACORN scum will be hard at work manufacturing fake votes.
I will, because I see it playing itself out in front of me, right before my very eyes. Doug Hoffman even calls himself a Republican - he certainly hasn't "left the party" - he merely participated in and gave the people the GOP primary that should have been had all along. He won it, and will win the election....and will be back in 2010 running on the GOP line right along with the CP line. the only reason he got anywhere is because big-name conservative Republicans brought his race to the spotlight - people like Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson and Rush Limbaugh and others, none of whom, btw, care for your third party drivel either. This election is proof positive that conservatives can wrestle power away from the GOP elite and win things on their own.
And guess what? "Conservative" (and I put that in scare quotes, because I consider you people to be moles and termites helping the Democrats) third parties had about diddly to do with it, except to give Hoffman a line on the ballot. For that, we thank the CP, but don't mistake that as some huge surge toward third parties. The evidence just isn't there.
You’re projecting. Big time.
My impression is that while Christie may not be as conservative as we’d like, he’s “conservative enough”? About as good as you can reasonably hope to have a chance of winning in NJ. I’ve seen OnTheIssues say that he is pro-life and anti-gay marriage, which says something about him right there.
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