what happened to all those *new* voters, or better yet, all those republican ones?
By American Girl in Italy on November 8, 2008 at 5:55 AM in Barack Obama, General Election, Sarah Palin, Voter Fraud
Report: ’08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than ’04
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.
Click here to read the entire report.
The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.
“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.
“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”
Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.
According to the report, several Southern states — North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi — and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.
Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.
In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.
Hmmm…I wonder if the lower turnout in the Western States could have anything to do with this: Audio.
NEWS ALERT
Dispicable Voter Suppression Calls Hitting Republican Households in Western StatesSan Diego, November 4 (6:15 PM) – Dispicable voter suppression calls started hitting Republican households in California around 5 PM PST. The message left on the answering machines of
Republican households reads s follows:
“This is a breaking news alert! Early returns show Barack Obama will win Florida, Ohio and Virginia, closing John McCain’s only path to the White House. Obama landslide is virtual certainty. Early returns also show Democrats will have large majorities in both houses of congress,
regardless of final results from western states like Colorado and California. This was a breaking news alert.”
Tony Krvaric, Chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County called the messages “dispicable”, and called for local Democrat leadership to immediately denounce the tactic, and demanded to know who paid for these calls. “Clearly, these calls are designed to depress Republican turnout here in San Diego County.”
Oh, and it wasn’t the youth vote that won this for Obama. As usual, they didn’t turn out as promised.
Young voters not essential to Obama triumph
Analysis shatters exit-polling myth, but shows black voters were vital
The purported “surge” of younger voters did happen, but it occurred at the same time as the number of voters of other ages also increased.
“Basically, the age distribution of voters looks the same as it did in 2004,” Arumi said. In 2004, 9 percent of the electorate was aged 18-24; on Tuesday, the percentage grew by one point to 10 percent.
Perhaps if the *anonymous insiders* of the MCCain campaign that continue to trash Sarah Palin, had done a better job getting their party to the polls, they wouldn’t need to be blaming her for their failures.
Oh, and just because this issue over Africa is driving me friggin batty, here is a comment from Palin’s aide Meg Stapleton:
“Regarding another stinging criticism, Stapleton claims that the Fox News report Thursday — that quoted unnamed sources inside the now defunct McCain campaign, saying Palin didn’t know Africa is a continent — was taken out of context.
Stapleton says that during a briefing session, someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue, and as she was responding, “in the middle, she said, ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down, and said, ‘Oh, my God, she thinks it’s a country.’”
But Stapleton insists, “She knows it’s a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like Obama saying 57 states. I don’t think anyone ever doubted that Obama knows there are 50 states.”
And no one in the media reported on Obama mentioning there were 57 states. Or that he saw dead people, or that his father’s casket was draped in an American Flag, or that his uncle liberated Auschwitz, or… Yes, we had a fun field day with those gaffes on the internet, but they weren’t reported in the news. But, the media has no problem trying to make Sarah Palin out to be a complete idiot.
Governor Sarah Palin did nothing wrong.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
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