Ron Kirk on Obama

In, of all places, the Times of London.

Local Republican Leader On Why Dallas GOP Turnout Is High

Local campaigns — especially the sheriff’s race — are turning out the voters. Incoming Republican chairman Jonathon Neerman explains:

Thank you for posting the story regarding GOP turnout. The GOP turnout is over three times what we had in 2004 and more than double last cycle.  Furthermore, I have heard directly from the local Democratic party that they have identified (as of Wednesday) over 8,000 hard core GOP voters who have crossed over to vote in the Democratic primary.  These numbers are consistent with the anecdotal evidence we have heard from our activists:  they are voting for the Democrat who they perceive to be the weaker for November. 

These numbers are very good for Republican candidates in the fall.  We accomplished these high numbers because of our local candidates who are working the grassroots around the county.  Candidates like Bill Keffer, Lowell Cannaday, Angie Chen Button, Mike Anderson, Randy Dunning, and others are working their areas of the county to increase GOP voter turnout.  The county party also spent the month of February calling primary voters reminding them to vote in the Republican primary.  By my estimation, we called around 45,000 households around the county.  We at the county understand that we cannot simply rely on the top of the ticket to carry us to victory. 

Are Republicans really crossing over to vote for the perceived weaker Democrat in the Demo primary? Sorry, Jonathon, I don’t buy it. From my experience, Republicans are solid middle-class types who value voting as a primary responsibility of good citizenship. Radio talk-show hosts, a notably more cynical lot, may promote that sort of game, but I don’t think many Dallas Republicans will play it. If Republicans are crossing over, it is because they prefer the Democratic candidate. And that spells big-time trouble for the GOP. [Sorry for the extra-long posts, but, hey, it's Saturday.]

Why Do Republicans Pander To Nutcases?

First, it was Mike Huckabee. Now it is John McCain who is hemming and hawing, backing and filling, kind-of-disassociating but not-denouncing-and-rejecting an endorsement by John Hagee, the notorious San Antonio preacher. As noted by Dave Leventhal, I have contributed to McCain, and as noted by Tim, I asked for my money back from Huckabee because he spoke at Hagee’s church. Now I don’t know what to do. I am very disappointed in John McCain.

Putting aside matters of basic decency and honor, I also find McCain’s waffling incredibly stupid as a matter of basic politics. As the Democratic primaries have shown, the largest single swing vote in this election is white men. (Read David Paul Kuhn’s astute analysis here.) Those white men are the very “Reagan Democrats” McCain needs to win the general election — and they are overwhelmingly working-class Catholics in the major states.

Like the ex-military guy he is, John McCain may be caught in the trap of fighting the last war. No surprise there. Hillary Clinton thought she was fighting the last war, too, following the Karl Rove and Mark Penn tactic of picking out and appealing to small segments of voters in order to win 50.1% of the vote. I’ve got news for McCain that he may not have noticed. Barack Obama is not playing the same game. He’s not even playing on the same field. Against Obama, the politics of hate will result in lost yardage on every play.

Little Noted Story: GOP Early Voting Also Surging

An analysis from the indispensable Quorum Report shows that Republicans are also turning out in record numbers for Tuesday’s primary. Even so, their numbers are dwarfed by the Demo turnout. Who the new GOP voters are is a mystery, and much, of course, depends on local races. For veteran GOP political observer Royal Masset, who like me has long despaired of the direction of today’s GOP, the incredibly high Demo numbers portend disaster for Republicans in the fall. The full story (thank you, Harvey!) is below the break:

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