We had about 100 volunteers doing voter registration today in the area from Spruce
to South Streets, and from 11th to Front, about 44 square
blocks. I stood on the corner of 10th & South for 4 1/2 hours and registered 20 people as Democrats (either new registration, change of party, or change of address) who intend to vote for Obama on April 22. In addition, I gave away 7 voter registration forms to people who were too busy to fill them out on the spot. The Obama (and O'Bama) stickers I gave away were very popular. Most people who did not stop claimed to be already registered.
Surprisingly, there were more self-identified Republicans than Hillary supporters. The Republicans were almost all young men. The Hillary supporters were almost all women. No Republicans switched registration, as far as I know. One person told me Hillary will steal the nomination. Another told me he would vote Republican for the first time in his life if Obama is the nominee. Everyone was cordial. I told Republicans and Hillary supporters, "Good luck." Hillary supporters thanked me for volunteering for Obama. It takes some doing to get people to stop and register, but every time someone did, another person lined up behind them. It was the weirdest thing.
As of March 4, about 65,000 new Democrats have signed up state-wide since the fall. (Republicans have gotten 3,000.) I would not be surprised if we double that by March 24, the last day to register for the primary. To give you a sense of scale, Kerry carried Pennsylvania in 2004 by about 144,000 votes.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day and I will be outside Kildare's on Headhouse Square starting at 2 p.m., registering people to vote.
God bless you. It's great to know that someone has our backs in Philly.
Posted by: Dr. Spasmolytic | March 17, 2008 at 07:44 AM