Obama drives massive new voter registration for Dems
A cornerstone of Obama's campaign to win back the White House has been to bring more people into the process: Independents, Republicans, young people and those disenchanted with politics as usual. Here in Oregon, the grassroots effort fueling Obama's campaign has registered a staggering 31,770 Oregonians to vote in our May 20 primary.
The numbers:
- In Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties, the Oregon for Obama campaign registered 14,500 new Democratic voters and party-switchers
- In Lane and Benton Counties, the campaign registered 7,000 new Democratic voters and party-switchers
- In Jackson County, the campaign registered 1,500 new Democratic voters and party-switchers
- In Marion County, the campaign registered 1,000 new Democratic voters and party-switchers
- In Deschutes County, the campaign registered 1,000 new Democratic voters and party-switchers
- The remaining 6,770 new Democratic voters and party-switchers are from 22 additional counties throughout Oregon
The influx of new voters into our Democratic primary represents a stunning achievement that will help Democrats up and down the ballot. Oregonians want a candidate who is serious about creating green jobs, ending the war and changing the way Washington does business. Obama is that candidate. And his bottom-up campaign is helping change Oregon's election landscape and create an environment for Democrats to win and win big in November.
Go Obama!
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April 30, 2008 |
Charlie Burr | Comments (11 so far)
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Posted by: Kevin | Apr 30, 2008 12:15:12 PM
Obama's campaign just opened a new field office in little ol' Forest Grove over the weekend. While I was there picking up an Obama bumper sticker a guy came in wanting to re-register from NAV to Dem.
Turns out the Obama guy had a ready-to-go program that apparently involves filling out two voter registration cards - one from NAV to Dem and the other back from Dem to NAV.
The point being to facilitate to the Nth degree the desire by any NAV's who want to vote for Obama to do so and not have to go through a big hassle to re-register back... if that's what they want.
I think it's politically brilliant on the part of the Obama campaign.
Posted by: backbeat | Apr 30, 2008 1:34:33 PM
50 State Strategy
Coast to Coast
You won't find that with the DLC candidate.
Obama/Schweitzer '08
Posted by: Matthew Sutton | Apr 30, 2008 4:20:16 PM
Great job Team Obama! For giving direction to the enthusiasm of all of us Oregon Obama volunteers, big thanks to State Director Rob Hill and all the Obama staff here in Oregon, including but not limited to State Field Director Jack Shapiro, Communications Director Nick Shapiro, Jim Nam, Courtney Hight, Mac Prichard, Phil Tassin, Jonathan McCollum, Wynn Walent, Jonathan Manton, Miles Galbraith, Laurie and all the other staff and organizers I haven't crossed paths with yet.
What is their secret? Well first off they have a great candidate named Barack Obama. Secondly, I have noticed that all of the staff I have met have some of the same traits as that candidate. They are upbeat, positive people who are genuinely interested and committed to the common good. They put their faith in regular everyday people like myself and my fellow rookie volunteers, rather than hired guns, by freely and regularly entrusting us volunteers with the campaign.
This astounding number of new Dem registrations is another example how the Barack Obama is about much more than just his own campaign. Like "Project Hope" that he led to transform politics in Illinois and like the 50 State voter registration drive he recently launched, he is about getting people involved in politics and helping them transform our country. And it is great to be a part of this.
This "from the ground up" approach is even getting our young people involved. Check out what these high school kids on the Oregon coast are up to.
Posted by: Pedro | Apr 30, 2008 5:13:26 PM
Vance Day (Oregon Republican Party Chair) told a TV news camera that most of the voters who switched from elephant to donkey would switch back after the primary.
That's not what's happening in my family!
Nice try Vance.
Posted by: Paddy McGuire | Apr 30, 2008 6:23:46 PM
Kudos to the Obama campaign. This is great news for Democrats at every level.
For the record, the Clinton campaign has been hard at work registering new voters too. Not only did Team Hillary expand the map in the Tri-County Area, but since the middle of March we've registered:
2,681 Democrats in Marion County
1,292 Democrats in Deschutes County and
1,019 Democrats in Douglas County.
Yes, Oregon is Bluer. And it’s not just happening in the urban areas – the Clinton campaign has expanded the map into Eastern Oregon where she evidently has a following.
Combined with the most recent AP poll showing Hillary beating John McCain by 9 points, this conclusion only bolsters the Clinton Campaign’s argument that with Hillary on the ticket, the coattail effect in rural areas and small towns will be large helping Democrats everywhere.
As the former Executive Director of the Democratic Party, I don’t think there could be better news for the Party no matter who the nominee is. But because Oregon makes it so easy to switch parties, we need to make sure we hold on to this surge. By involving this new population in political action and debates, Oregon will forever be a darker shade of blue. Kudos to all for that.
Posted by: Paddy McGuire | Apr 30, 2008 6:28:21 PM
Kudos to the Obama campaign. This is great news for Democrats at every level.
For the record, the Clinton campaign has been hard at work registering new voters too. Not only did Team Hillary expand the map in the Tri-County Area, but since the middle of March we've registered:
2,681 Democrats in Marion County
1,292 Democrats in Deschutes County and
1,019 Democrats in Douglas County.
Yes, Oregon is Bluer. And it’s not just happening in the urban areas – the Clinton campaign has expanded the map into Eastern Oregon where she evidently has a following.
Combined with the most recent AP poll showing Hillary beating John McCain by 9 points, this conclusion only bolsters the Clinton Campaign’s argument that with Hillary on the ticket, the coattail effect in rural areas and small towns will be large helping Democrats everywhere.
As the former Executive Director of the Democratic Party, I don’t think there could be better news for the Party no matter who the nominee is. But because Oregon makes it so easy to switch parties, we need to make sure we hold on to this surge. By involving this new population in political action and debates, Oregon will forever be a darker shade of blue. Kudos to all for that.
Posted by: Don | Apr 30, 2008 6:30:38 PM
In all my years of canvassing I have NEVER had as easy a time doing voter registration. Out of the houses I knocked (in SW PDX) last weekend, all but three at least took the registration forms if they didn't fill them out right away.
I agree, let's hold on to this surge and ride it over the top!
Posted by: colin maloney | Apr 30, 2008 6:41:49 PM
This AP article shows that a lot of the new Democrats are very recent converts.
According to the secretary of state's office, there were 845,196 registered Democrats in Oregon as of Wednesday, up by nearly 81,000 from January.During the same period, Republicans lost more than 4,500 voters, according to the secretary of state's count. There are now 683,371 Republicans registered, or about 33.6 percent of the state's more than 2 million voters.
Registered Democrats are now about 42% of the (registered) electorate. I wonder, though, about how many of those "new Democrats" will stay in the Party far beyond the primary. I imagine a good number of them, probably not a majority though, will reregister soon after the election.
While the numbers look good on the surface, I'm waiting to see what the numbers are in September and October are before I get too excited.
Posted by: Tom Civiletti | Apr 30, 2008 7:39:03 PM
Those are impressive numbers. I would love to know how many were driven to register D because of Shrub/McCain, and how many because of Obama/Clinton.
Posted by: Kimberly G | May 1, 2008 8:44:58 AM
I'm concerned about how many voters will continue to be involved after this election. We do have double majority in this state and it would be an enormous hurdle to schools if the new voters disengage and don't turn out for the more mundane bond issues.
Has anyone thought of this?
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Posted by: Phil Philiben | Apr 30, 2008 12:05:52 PM
House District 54 (Basically the City of Bend plus the Deschutes River Woods neighborhood) flips to the Democrats.
Support Judy Stiegler!