Any Thoughts On Edwards Heavy GOP Support In WI?

[DrFunkenstein]

GOP Turnout Heavy in Wis. Democratic Vote

MILWAUKEE - An unusually heavy Republican turnout and a late surge in support from independents helped John Edwards to a surprisingly close second-place finish behind John Kerry in Wisconsin's Democratic primary, an Associated Press exit poll found.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=6&u=/ap/democrats_exit_poll

So which is it? GOP spoilers trying to de-rail Kerry or just Republicans who like what they see in the Democratic primary?

[robsul82]

1. 10% of the electorate.

There is no Republican conspiracy to "derail" Kerry. They do not wear earpieces, and do not flood voting booths on orders from Karl Rove Himself! Stop it.

No, really, just stop it.

Later.

RJS

[Syrinx]

2. maybe it's Republican voters who hate Dubya

And want a candidate who can actually win in November. Just a thought.

[quinnox]

3. Repubs like Edwards

Hard to believe, but many do. My opinion from what I have seen on other message boards and heard from cspan callers in the past.

[DrFunkenstein]

5. I Believe It - Kerry Had Big Support In The GOP Primary In NH

I'm not saying that it isn't possible that conservatives dig Edwards. Given his centrism and folksy charm, it's not hard to imagine. But I think we've all witnessed a "freeping" in our day, so it's not like it is out of the question.

[elsiesummers]

12. I think this is it - you've figured it out.

My moderate Repub SIL likes him.

They voted McCain and then Bush in the last election. They are long time McCain fans. Big on government reform. They like Edwards.
He has crossover appeal. Not sure I can quite figure it out either. I think it's a style thing.

I would think Kerry would appeal to some disgruntled Repub Veterans.

[lowreed]

16. Edwards looks like a midwestern republican

[_Jumper_]

4. Clinton Republicans

Edwards appeals to moderate Republicans who voted for Clinton.

[Toucano]

8. That's a first.

I never realized there was such a beast as a "Clinton Republican". Go figure.

[Toucano]

6. What bothers me

isn't the support Edwards gets from republicans, but the fact that those who answer that say they are "enthusiastic" about the Bush administration overwhelming support Edwards.

It isn't Edwards' fault, but I do think these republicans are up to something. At least they think they're up to something. :)

[corporatewhore]

7. its the Jobs,stupid edwards spoke out against NAFTA

if kucinich was givin the time of day w/o bein referred to as an elf he would be on top

[idlisambar]

15. damn straight

Edward's populist message resonates big time. Democrats in senate and congressional races would be wise to take note.

[AP]

18. Incidentally, in the debate, didn't Ku and Ed get about the same amount of

time (both in 9 min range) while Kerry got 15 min?

[DrFunkenstein]

9. Kerry's Appeal To GOPeeps

Under New Hampshire law, only Democrats and independents were permitted to participate in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary. That meant that Republicans who wanted to register their opposition to Bush had to do so in their own party's primary. A remarkable number of them did just that.

US Senator John Kerry came in second to Bush in the Republican contest, winning 3,009 votes. Kerry's name was written in on almost 5 percent of all GOP ballots.

Who were these Republican renegades for Kerry? People like 61-year-old retired teacher David Anderson. A Vietnam veteran, Anderson told New Hampshire's Concord Monitor that he wrote in Kerry's name because the senator, also a veteran, understands the folly of carrying on a failed war. "I feel a commander, the president of the United States, ought to be a veteran," explained Anderson, who says his top priority is getting US troops out of Iraq.

http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?pid=1221

[Kurovski]

10. I know six Republican voters who will not be voting for Bush

One is my sister (a teacher). Two of them live in WI (millionaires!)

Since the only thing the R's are offering is Bush, they gotta choose someone.

Yes, it's true, Republicans will be voting against George.

[SangamonTaylor]

11. they are the "Lou Dobbs republicans" who are tired of outsourcing

[Adjoran]

13. I know one thing

If we win the White House, it will be in a close election. We will need a lot of independent votes, and some repubs, and some other repubs to stay home.

We can't win without the base, but neither can we win with the base alone.

How do we attract those votes? Hey, if I had the certain answer to that, I'd be making the big bucks as a consultant. Since I'm here with you guys instead, your guess is probably as good as mine.

But we need to do it somehow.

[ShaneGR]

14. Yeah, it equaled about 4-5% of the vote

Those are my thoughts.

[DaisyUCSB]

17. They're overwhelmingly likely to be centrist republicans

There's no good reason for Bush supporting republicans or movement conservatives to want a strong(er) nominee like Edwards.

I believe that he got more independant support than republican

They're the people we could really use if we want to win in November

[AP]

19. I worked in an open-primary district on a campaign and the Republicans

did get involved to throw the race to the more conservative Dem.

But they didn't rely on Republican voters to think of voting for the conservative dem on their own. They had to have a massive phone banking operation with very obvious (althouth craftily worded) messages to voters.

Unless there were some evidence that this happened in WI, it's highly unlikely that these voters were doing anything other than vote for the person they want to vote for in the GE.