Obama registering thousands of new Dems in PA, Hillary isn't trying (Phila. Inquirer)

[JPZenger]

Here's a quote from a Philadelphia Inquirer article from March 12, 2008:

"...priority No. 1 for Obama's campaign is registering as many voters as poossible - at least 100,000- before the March 24 deadline....

While Obama's goal is to expand the Democratic electorate in Pennsylvania, Clinton is hardly as focused on doing the same. The New York senator's campaign said it had no similar voter registration drive because that is not central to its strategy ...

In Philadelphia ... the number of registered Democrats grew by 6,079 between Feb. 11 and Monday."


The article also says that there are 327,000 undergraduate college students in PA. which are being targeted by Obama with groups on 35 college campuses. The article described how students from other states (such as Connecticut and Massachusetts)are helping with those efforts.

The article was entitled "Obama's Keystone Strategy: Register Voters."


(I live in PA. and had 3 very polite high school volunteers for Obama stop me on the street and ask me if I wanted to register.)
---

I quoted the paper copy of the paper, but could not find a direct link to the complete article. Here is a related article:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/16590046.html

[Edgewater_Joe]

1. B-B-B-But Hillary Said Obama's Giving Up In PA!

Wouldn't this story kind of make her look ... well ...

What a joke she has become and is becoming with every day.

[MercutioATC]

2. Maybe Pensylvania is one of those states that "doesn't count" now...

...or maybe she's spending the money and manpower on her next big smear.

[Blondiegrrl]

17. The United States That Matter

Not mine. I think it was created by someone on Fark. :spray:

[Independent-Voter]

42. Saw that one too - they need to take off Texas though

[WinkyDink]

32. Link to this quote?

[mod mom]

45. More of Mark Penn's disingenuous spin!

[Beregond2]

3. Strategy

"Not central to it's strategy." Meaning, the less democracy, the better for Hillary.

[thevoiceofreason]

4. The ground game goes in first.

[rug]

5. There are 4,000,000 registered Democrats in Pennsylvania.

2.5% won't help him.

[JimGinPA]

8. Yeah, And They're All Going To Vote For HRC In This Primary Too

:eyes:

[rug]

10. I gave him all of them. Stay close to loved ones April 22.

[anonymous171]

9. They may help the nom. in november.

[rug]

11. I hope so but my sense is they are for Obama but not necessarily for Democrats.

I suspect evaporation will be high.

[grantcart]

31. Obama changed the political landscape in Illinois with one of the most

successful voter registration efforts anywhere. He not only got them to register in huge numbers they came back and voted.

There is a reason that Obma never faced serious competition in Illinois. Think how many million new voters he can bring into the party.


http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence/


The number of new voter registrations before the election hit an all-time high. And the majority of those new voters were black. More than 150,000 new African-American voters were added to the city's rolls. In fact, for the first time in Chicago's history-including the heyday of Harold Washington-voter registrations in the 19 predominantly black wards outnumbered those in the city's 19 predominantly white ethnic wards, 676,000 to 526,000.


The election, to some degree, turned on these totals: Braun and Clinton had almost unanimous support among blacks. But just as important, if less obvious, are the implications black votership could have for future city and state elections: For the first time in ten years, more than half a million blacks went to the polls in Chicago.

At the head of this effort was a little-known 31-year-old African-American lawyer, community organizer, and writer: Barack Obama.

All of that changed with the ascension of Harold Washington. In the months just prior to his 1983 Democratic primary win, 120,000 new black voters were registered, most by registrars who received no bounty.

"It was overwhelming," says Joseph Gardner, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the director of the steering committee for Project Vote! "The black community in this city had not been so energized and so single-minded since Harold died."

Burrell agrees. "We were registering hundreds a day, and we weren't having to search them out. They came looking for us. African Americans were just so eager to have a say again, to feel they counted."

"I think it's fair to say we reinvigorated a slumbering constituency," says Obama. "We got people to take notice."

"Who can afford to ignore 600,000 voters?" He says he is confident turnout among black voters in Chicago will remain at nearly that level during future elections. "We tasted victory in November. It was intoxicating. We won't go back to being silent."

[democrattotheend]

37. People under 30 were the only age group to vote for Kerry in 2004

I went to American, which granted is a pretty liberal campus, but a survey done by our school paper showed that 74% of students were for Kerry, about 20% for Bush, and the rest for Nader. Not every student who registers now will come out to vote for Democrats in November if Obama is not the nominee, but they will certainly be more likely to vote Democratic than Republican in November.

[thevoiceofreason]

20. That sentiment is exactly why she's a loser.

Every damn vote matters.

[rug]

21. Correct. And when they're all voted, including new registrations, he'll lose Pennsylvania.

[johnnydrama]

22. so what?

It's good for the party. You remember the party, the Democratic party. There will be other people on the ballot in November.

If Barack's on their, some of them will vote for other Democrats.

That can only be a good thing.

[NDambi]

43. No Hillary supporters only see Hillary..they don't care about the party

[Gore1FL]

23. I doubt it

[woolldog]

28. Wow

I never thought anyone on DU would be against registering new democrats?

[democrattotheend]

38. Probably, but the margin matters

He doesn't need to win PA but he can't get crushed. Every bit helps.

[bhikkhu]

25. They still matter. n/t

[Tribetime]

30. assuming 50% turnout it could be 5%

but he has a way of outperforming his goals, maybe 150,000 who knows. I do think your right Clinton will win, but this could close the gap to single digits.

[JimGinPA]

6. I Can Vouch For This Article...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5061476&mesg_id=5061476


:headbang:

[verelsol]

7. Why would the front-runner be actively registering people?

If I had a big lead in a contest, I would be quiet.

[tabasco]

14. Ever heard of the tortoise and the hare?

You might have missed that one.

[JPZenger]

33. Iditerod - 2nd Place Guy Pretended to Sleep

Speaking of the tortoise and the hare, Rachel Maddow was describing what happened yesterday in the Iditerod dog sled race in Alaska. A guy was in 2nd place and knew he could not catch up. So he went into a checkpoint and told them he was going to take a nap for one hour. His competitor heard this, and also took a nap. The guy was just pretending to sleep - he snuck out the back and won the race.

(It didn't violate any rules)

[JPZenger]

35. Helping Other Dems Has Never Been Clinton Strength - Editorial

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/helping-to-elect-other-de_b_91454.html

Excerpts:

"When Bill Clinton entered office in 1992, Democrats held a 100 vote majority in the House of Representatives, 267 to 167. After his first two years, Democrats lost control of the House for the first time since 1954, and did not regain a majority until 2006 -- long after he'd left office. In 1992, Democrats also had control of the Senate, but lost control in 1994 and did not regain it throughout the Clinton term.

When the Clintons entered the White House, Democrats controlled both legislative bodies in 29 states. The parties had split control in 14 states, and Republicans controlled both chambers in only six states. Democratic control gradually eroded throughout the 1990's. By 1998, Democrats controlled both chambers in only 21 states. Republicans had gained control of both houses in 17 states, and 11 had one chamber controlled by each party. ...The GOP picked up a whopping 472 legislative seats across the country in 1994 alone.

...The failure of Hillary Clinton's 1993 healthcare initiative was a disaster for down-ballot Democrats. Of course the Clintons should be commended for having tried to create a universal health care system. But the way they went about it doomed it from the start. Their proposal was a Rube Goldberg contraption meant to allow the insurance industry to "buy-in" to the deal. But the insurance types didn't really want government-sponsored universal health care in the first place. So after they had gotten all they could in the way of concessions, they savaged the proposal with their famous "Harry and Louise" nationwide media campaign...

...First, it set many Congressional Democrats politically adrift... Instead of taking on the Republicans with respect to big issues, and drawing sharp distinctions between progressive and conservative values, conservative values simply went unchallenged. Conservative assumptions about the economy and the role of government were allowed to become the de facto benchmarks against which political positions were measured. The result was that Democrats spent years in a defensive crouch. When you're on the defensive, you're losing."

[Blondiegrrl]

18. Uh, there's another election coming up in November, remember?

[ginnyinWI]

19. because he's not leading in PA--yet. n/t

[Gore1FL]

24. I wouldn't stay quiet

Getting people to vote benefits the Democrats. I am glad to see party building.

[bhikkhu]

26. Perhaps because he is a Democrat, first.

[IamyourTVandIownyou]

12. There are over 260 Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania.

3rd most of the 50 states.

Good ground for Obama.

http://www.50states.com/college/penn.htm

--

Remember, DEADLINE to vote in the closed Pennsylvania primary is MARCH 24

Pennsylvanians can register to vote online at
https://ssl.capwiz.com/congressorg/e4/nvra/?language=en&action=form&state=PA

[AtomicKitten]

13. This guy is showing his stuff with his magnificent campaign organization and GOTV.

Very impressive.

[Blondiegrrl]

15. Wow, that's impressive! Get out the vote!

I'm really impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the Obama campaign.

[HughMoran]

16. Good for him!!

I hope they vote in the fall too!

[madrchsod]

27. why should she?

she`s already won the state.

[Scurrilous]

29. Gobama!

:thumbsup:

[Coexist]

34. no matter who wins, this will help us in the GE! Go Obama!

[democrattotheend]

36. I'm going to Philly this weekend to help register voters

Probably next weekend too. If anyone from the DC area wants to join me I have space in my car.

I am so glad they are doing student registration. This will help him in PA and be a big help to Democrats in the general. People under 30 are the only age group that voted for Kerry in 2004, and if we can get more students registered in swing states that would be a big help. Getting students to register where they go to school is preferable because then they don't have to take the initiative in advance to mail an absentee ballot application (when I was in college I rarely checked my mailbox).

[stillcool]

39. Oh No! He's not going to do

that campaigning thing on the ground again, is he? He is supposed to be playing cheap tricks with the media!

[fbuzz]

40. Obama WILL NEVER Win in PA

That's done. I live here. Trust me.

[sudopod]

41. Well, if a guy on the internet says so...

WE'RE DOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!11111oneoneeleventy111lim x=>0 sin (x)/x

:p

[NDambi]

44. Racist state, huh? I live next door..more racists in the north than in the south nowadays

[RamboLiberal]

46. Obama supporters in Pittsburgh doing the same

I just wish the candidate would get over here to PA. Hillary, Bill and Chelsea have been on the ground all week. Michele has done some work, and Obama's been here once. He had to cancel a visit to smaller campus yesterday because of Senate vote, but some in PA are getting the impression he's neglecting PA. If I was him I'd rent a bus and tour the state for a couple of weeks. Do an Iowa on PA.

As an Obama supporter I'm antsy for him to get here!

[JPZenger]

47. No voter registration events on Hillary's website, tons on Obama's

I just confirmed the content of the article - Hillary has no voter registration effort in PA. The registration deadline is 10 days away to register. I went to the Hillary site and used their search for events in my area. The only events were people asking Hillary to come to their location and suggesting locations, plus one house party. (I live in the 3rd largest metro area in PA)

Then I went to Obama's site and found tens of voter registration drive sites, including one 3 blocks from my house.

Then I looked at Hillary's volunteer form. It did not have any choice for voter registration drives.

Who is trying to build up the Party, and who is targeting the oldest and least educated voters?