http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/20/ground-war-obama-and-the_n_127981.htmlThomas B. Edsall
Ground War: Obama And The Long March
September 20, 2008 05:45 PM
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Before the actual election, it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of each sides' ground game, but one strong indicator is the trend in voter registration which reflects both enthusiasm and the ability of the campaign to capture that enthusiasm. On that front, Obama appears to be doing very well.
In the key battleground state of Colorado, for example, the Secretary of State's office reported that from January to August of this year, Republican registration grew by a modest 17,910, from 1,011,152 to 1,029,062. Democrats, in contrast, grew four times faster, by 76,667, from 880,761 to 955,428.
The Associated Press reported Democratic gains both in competitive states -- Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Florida - and in such Republican bastions as North Carolina and Georgia.
Over the past two years, according to the AP, 167,000 North Carolinians signed up as Democrats compared to 36,000 as Republicans. In Pennsylvania, the trends have been even more foreboding for McCain and the GOP: Republican registration dropped by 117,000, while Democratic registration shot up by 375,000.
Republicans are worried. GOP media consultant Alex Castellanos noted that he has been impressed with Obama campaign's ground game ever since the January Iowa caucuses, when he began to run into Republicans gearing up to switch parties and vote for the Illinois Senator. "Whoa, they are good," he recounted saying to himself.
In practical terms, Castellanos said, the Obama ground game has the strong potential to produce Electoral College votes: "Virginia, that's a state Barack could take with his ground game."
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