Battleground: More on early voting
Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 9:11 AM by Domenico Montanaro
The New York Times writes, “With as many as one-third of voters expected to cast their ballots before Election Day, preliminary data from several key battleground states show more Democrats than Republicans have voted early. While the information should hardly be considered predictive of how the election may turn, accounting for just a fraction of the vote, it does offer a window into the loyalties of this growing segment of the electorate. The early tabulations of party affiliations seem to bolster polling that shows Senator Barack Obama’s campaign on the electoral offensive in states that President Bush won in 2004.”
More: “Significantly more Democrats than Republicans have cast ballots at this early stage in Iowa, North Carolina, New Mexico and Ohio, according to data analyzed by The New York Times… In Florida, however, Republicans appear to hold the upper hand, while in Colorado, early voting is about evenly split among Republicans and Democrats. Mr. Bush won all those states in 2004.”
COLORADO: The Denver Post offers the latest early vote count. "According to numbers provided Tuesday by the Secretary of State's office, 23,000 more Democrats have requested mail-in ballots than Republicans. Less than a month ago, in late September, Republicans in Colorado held a 30,000-voter edge in asking for mail-in ballots. Democrats also outnumbered Republicans in showing up Monday for the first day of early voting, by about 3,000 voters. But, because Republicans have turned in about 3,000 more mail-in ballots so far, the two parties are neck-and-neck in terms of turnout in the early stages of voting in the state."
The immense popularity of mail-in ballots in Colorado has a downside. "Tens of thousands of mail ballots have been delayed in reaching voters because of backlogs at election offices and printing companies."
FLORIDA: More numbers, numbers, numbers in Florida, Florida, Florida. "The first returns from early voting Monday showed that 56 percent of the 153,262 voters who cast ballots across the state were Democrats, compared with Republicans' 28 percent. Independents and third-party voters made up the rest. By comparison, on the first day of early voting in 2006, Democrats cast 45 percent of the ballots and Republicans 42 percent."
"Battle for the hearts, minds -- and votes -- of Florida Hispanics continues. Barack Obama is up with two new Spanish-language ads airing in Florida: Ataques or Attacks and Oportunidad or Opportunity, and John McCain's campaign is dispatching Cuban-born US Sen. Mel Martinez to Miami to work the crowd at Versailles and wave signs."
NEW HAMPSHIRE: "New Hampshire launched John McCain's two presidential campaigns, and now he's hoping it doesn't end his bid for the White House. The Republican nominee was returning Wednesday to the state whose primary he won in 2000 and again earlier this year. But there were signs it was tilting toward Democrat Barack Obama in the Nov. 4 general election. Recent polls have shown Obama, an Illinois senator, with a lead no smaller than 7 percentage points, prompting speculation that McCain may have to surrender the state's four electoral votes and focus elsewhere if he hopes to cobble together the 270 needed to become president."
Hillary Clinton will be in New Hampshire next week for Obama.
PENNSYLVANIA: The New York Times notes how the McCain campaign is trying to keep in the Keystone State in play.
VIRGINIA: "The quest by Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama for toss-up Virginia has gone country," the AP says. "McCain is looking to run up enormous margins in rural Republican strongholds. Obama is fighting just as hard to stay in play. How country has it gone? At the same moment on Tuesday, current and former Mississippi governors toured opposite ends of the Virginia countryside for the campaigns, neither conceding a single city, town or crossroads."
WISCONSIN: A new poll from the Wisconsin Public Radio/St. Norbert College Survey Center shows Obama up 51-38 in the Badger State. (Margin of error: +/- 5)
