In an election year when good news has been scarce for Democrats, anxious party strategists are heartened by at least one development: In states that have started voting, early indications are that Democratic turnout could be stronger than expected. Despite the much-discussed "enthusiasm gap," early balloting suggests that the voter turnout engine that Barack Obama revved up in 2008 has not sputtered out entirely, according to the Atlas Project, a Democratic consulting firm that analyzed voter data. The firm told its clients Friday that early ballots in the 17 states where voting has been sufficient to draw historical comparisons show...
