Only 38% of Californians voted on Tuesday !

[kentuck]

That's really firing up the masses, isn't it ?

[GRLMGC]

1. Sigh

I'm embarassed about that.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. If we got 60% turnout, we could have closed the popular vote....

margin on Bush to a million of so.

:wtf: happened?

[Pirate Smile]

18. Yep, there goes your popular vote and moral cover for challenging

any voter irregularities.

[Bridget Burke]

3. But, they're a Blue State!

They're all perfect, unlike us idiots who actually showed up to vote here in the Evil Red States. (Houston, Texas--the very belly of the beast)

[flowomo]

4. wait.... I see 10 of 16 million registered voters turned out....

that's mid 60's -- you talking "eligible" or "registered"?

http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/ror/reg_stats_10_18_04.pdf

[kentuck]

9. Brian Lamb reported this AM on C-SPAN that CA was last in nation...

in percent of turnout.

[flowomo]

10. percentage of what? eligible or registered?

[kentuck]

14. Whichever, it was last in the nation compared to turnout...

take your choice.

[flowomo]

15. reigstered was 62% turnout... may have been worst.... but it was not 38%

[Pirate Smile]

21. I saw that this morning also but I don't know what paper it was from.

[9119495]

5. More proof the Electoral College is a sham.

People knew it wasn't going to be close so both sides stayed home. So did the dems in the red states.

Who knows how much better Kerry would have done in the 30+ states Bush took if Kerry voters would have known they'd be counted.

[awgoodkitty]

6. I can't believe that.

I worked the polls on election day and we had damned near 75% show up. That's not even counting absentee or (barf) touch-screen ballots done the week before.

The turnout was greater than I'd ever seen.

Something's screwy. Not that it wasn't before but that's just whacked.

[flowomo]

7. I think he's talking "eligible"

tho I cud be wrong
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/ror/reg_stats_10_18_04.pdf

[BayStateBoy]

8. I Knew Those Bastards Wouldn't Turn Out...

All that hype about a Kerry landslide just before the voting might have been a deterrent. Often is out west if they think it's in the bag.

Man, were we fooled. Those extra votes could have removed Chimp's claims of a popular majority and have been a big weapon in restraining the asshole. Very sad, lost opportunity. Shame.

[awgoodkitty]

11. the bastards showed up

because I handed them their ballots and checked off their names on voter rolls. It was insane. When I took a break at lunch to vote at my own polling place ten miles away - there were 30 people in front of me where normally there might be three or four.

[flowomo]

17. record high.... see below post

[BayStateBoy]

32. 35% is record high? if so they stink. My town turned out 82% n/t

[Jack_Dawson]

12. Watch your language young man

I did my part - my friends did their part. I personally don't know a single non-voter.

[awgoodkitty]

13. exactly

n/t

[Democat]

27. Kerry ignored California!

:(

[flowomo]

16. CNN says California turnout was a record high.....

In California, the estimated voter turnout was 12 million, a record for the state.

"It's a landslide of people coming out, which is nice," voter Theresa Cocco, 45, a business owner, said outside the Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach. "It renews my faith in society."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/03/voter.turnout.ap/

[bullimiami]

19. 38% of what?

the total population? registered voters. eligible voters.

remember there are 300 million people in the us and only 120 million voted.

thats 40 percent.

[AP]

35. Must have been total population because 58% of reg'd voters voted.

And that's pretty decent for a state with NO national TV ads and very few statewide ads except for the the Indian Casino ads (and who gets excited about those?).

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. Less than last time

and Bush Gore didn't exactly blow doors off in 2000.

Bush....... 4,567,429 (41.7%) 4,403,495 (44.3%)
GoreKerry 5,861,203 (53.4%) 5,427,055 (54.6%)
Nader ...... 418,707 (3.8%)
........... 10,847,339 ............ 9,830,550 Calif: Total Voting age pop. approx 25 million

[ISUGRADIA]

22. Still there is a large legal an illegal immigrant population

in CA unable to vote which effect turnout %.

[Southsideirish]

23. Must be the a-holes who are so in love with the "Governator".

What the hell is with that dude? He is sooo weird with the painted on tan and the hair spray - how can anyone listen to a single word he says seriously? He wouldn't last a second in the Midwest as we would see right through this phony.

[GRLMGC]

24. Goddamn it

I honestly don't know anyone who likes him. I haven't met these assholes but I'm gonna work my hardest to get the douchebag outta office. We're not all idiotic.

[Moochy]

31. He was up against Gray Davis

Gray wasnt named gray for no reason.

Gray had a bit of an image problem when contrasted with Arnold's on-screen image.

[xntrick]

25. Ouch. Well, for what it's worth...

The only people I know around here that didn't vote...couldn't because they weren't US citizens. Heck, this time was my mother's very first presidential election since she got became a citizen a couple years ago.

I don't know about ads on TV as I just don't watch much. I've heard it was expensive getting ad time in CA and I know what little TV I did watch, I was struck by the dearth of political ads on broadcast TV. Except for maybe the last week before the election.

There definitely was a sense that..."Well, we're going to go blue anyway, right?"

[Democat]

26. Maybe if Kerry had showed up in California a few times people would have..

Cared more.

California still picked Kerry by 10%, but imagine if had made a few appearances. The Democrats like the California money for their campaigns, but they ignore the state like it's poison when campaigning.

Eventually, Democrats ignoring of California may cause problems if Republicans figure out a way to steal the state - maybe by convincing the public to split the electoral votes or trying some other impeachment-like trick.

[glitch]

28. Are you sure? We don't know our turnout yet - absentee ballots still

coming in here in WA.

[shraby]

29. Not only that, but we don't know

how many actually did vote for Kerry and what kind of majority he would have had...Bush took all the votes for himself.

[Straight Shooter]

30. About the argument that "if Kerry had shown up"

If Kerry had visited California, and lost the election, people would blame him for visiting a blue state and not concentrating on a swing state or even a few red states

I'm not going to second-guess Kerry or Californians.

[Democat]

33. The problem is looking at the long term - Democrats cannot ignore CA

The Republicans are looking for a way to make up ground in California and the Democratic Party cannot just ignore California and then be shocked when a few years from now there are suddenly some gains by the Republicans.

We need to hold on to California as tight as possible and make sure that the Republicans don't pull another recall type trick to damage the Democrats or take some of the power in California for themselves.

They are already trying to find a way to split California's electoral votes and the Democrats do not have a high profile California leader (Boxer or Feinstein maybe?) to go toe to toe with Arnold the Republican.

It's partially understandable why Kerry ignored California except to look for money, but Democrats cannot ignore California year after year, election after election, and expect Californians to be as excited about the Democratic Party as they might have been otherwise.

We were, in a way, lucky that there is so much disgust for Bush this year, but what about someone like Rudy? He might actually have a chance in California because he mirrors Arnold in many ways.

We need to be careful and stop ignoring our base - California is a major part of the base.

[AP]

34. 58% of registered voters voted.