A “few” shifting out of a dozen is quite a significant change for someone who won by a 7% margin, especially since they probably cherry-picked the folks to quote...:^)
In a bit more precise mathematical terms, if one person “flipped” out of the dozen, it would have changed the 2008 results.
it’s just one of those fluffy human interest stories that journalists like to write
The main premise of 0bama being denied reelection is that voters who voted for him will now change their votes to the Republican candidate. Those voters will come mostly from the independent group, not from much from the Democrats. Surely not from the Blacks (unless the R candidate is Cain). So, it's important to hear from the independents, not from the Dhims.