McCain will discover tomorrow that while he was playing a game of checkers Romney was playing chess.
Posted on 01/28/2008 9:13:04 PM PST by jerry557
BY GARY FINEOUT
Nearly one million Floridians have already cast early and absentee ballots in the state's primary, a sign that moving up the date of the presidential primary will likely yield a record turnout on Tuesday.
The last time there was a contested presidential primary on both the Republican and Democratic sides, only about 19 percent of Florida voters, or 1.34 million, cast ballots. But numbers assembled by the political parties show that more than 988,000 people had voted by Sunday.
And thousands more voted Sunday afternoon in the seven Florida counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward, that were still conducting early voting. Lines at some early voting sites in South Florida snaked around buildings and stretched out onto sidewalks.
The boost in voters, a stark contrast from the 2000 presidential primary, coincides with the decision by the Florida Legislature to move up the primary date from March to Jan. 29 as well as highly competitive races in both parties.
Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Lester Sola said that, between early voting and absentee ballots, turnout has already matched the entire 2000 primary turnout. Nearly 10,000 people voted on Sunday afternoon and he said that points to plenty of voters showing up on Tuesday.
''We're expecting a busy day,'' Sola said.
There are 10.2 million registered voters in Florida. Of those who had already voted by Sunday, nearly 474,000 are registered Republicans and 405,000 are Democrats. An additional 109,000 voters -- who are either registered with other parties or are independents -- have also voted on the property-tax amendment on the ballot.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
A question I don't have an answer for.
That depends on whether or not the dead turn up to vote...
The NYT doesnt tell you that the other primaries and caucuses so far are all open. Iowa, NH, and Nevada are all open to a point to where you could almost walk in on election day and claim you are a resident and get a ballot. Some were accusing Obama of bussing in people from Illinois into Iowa to caucus for him. Same allegations of Hillary bussing people in from Vermont to vote for her in NH. And Nevada was a joke in my opinion. When you open caucuses at the places everyone works, of course you will have record turnout.
So just because Democrats have more votes now does not translate that they will have the same turnout numbers in their favor come November.
Overall, Florida is Republican, but the southeast is infested with Democrats.
Thanks for the laugh.
They have ruined a once upon a time nice place like Ft Lauderdale.
So does a high turnout benefit who?
With many elderly, a record turnout in FL favors conservatives......unlike most places where liberals usually benefit from a high turnout.
Although the state’s demographics is changing, FL still has a high % of elderly.
The weather should be nice statewide tomorrow, and that will help turnout. This will benefit Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee (esp w older evangelicals). Rudy will also get some boost.
McAztlan would be the one adversely affected
Who benefits? If the early voting helps Rudy G. win, then he gets the big mo! IMHO
McCain will discover tomorrow that while he was playing a game of checkers Romney was playing chess.
But it won't matter. The military vote will go strongly against McCain and for Romney.
That's my thoughts.
To all, Please stop McCain.
We all knew Rush would be great today. RUSH: Stop caring who the media likes. Screw them!
We have a lower property tax bill on the ballot. That is a big deal in Florida.
McCain and possibly Romney. This would offset what is likely strength in early early ballots that went to Rudy.
Just got through reading some poll internals and you’re dead on.
Lot’s of older voters and immigration and the economy are far and away the top issues.
After looking at a lot of data, I’m now read to say that Mitt will win by between 5-10%.
It will be good to see for once that the GOP will have a larger turnout for their primary than the Democrats. In the previous states, Iowa, NH and even South Carolina, more people voted in the Democratic Primaries than the Republican Primaries.
lot’s=lots
read=ready
time for bed
I sure hope so. This thing has got me nervous.
Its a good thing Florida is a closed primary. Otherwise McCain would have a clear edge like he did in SC. He’s very popular with independents in Florida.
But those registered as independent can’t vote for him. And Democrats cant cross over.
“After looking at a lot of data, I’m now read to say that Mitt will win by between 5-10%.”
You’d like to think so, but I’ve actually seen some polls that show John McCain as most trusted on the economy. This coming from the guy who is so incompetent as to claim that he’d like to see our interest rate at 0%.
Apparently a large percentage of people like the idea of destroying the US banking system...
Mitt is not only going to win this, he’s going to tear it open like he did in Michigan and Nevada. I am so excited about tomorrow.
Tomorrow America wins!! LET’S DO IT!!!!
Are you the one that came up with that saying? I stole it and have been saying it a lot around here. It is so true. Thank you.
here here! hear hear!
You don't say!?
That McCain is a nice young fellow.
But do they check ID”s?
Why are registered Dems voting in FL? Their votes for McCain don’t count, right?
The Dems are still voting for their ticket even though the DNC stripped Florida’s delegates. Florida law will not allow Obama or Edwards to withdrawl their names from the ballot like they did in Michigan. So they are still on the Dem ticket.
There is also the property tax amendment on the ballot for everybody to vote for which is a big issue in Florida. That’s why the Democrats are coming out to vote.
But Dems and Independents can’t cross over and vote for the GOP race.
When I was younger and came down here nigh 20 years ago, FTL was an awesome, raunchy party spot. Within 2 years they began shutting down the famous party bars. It was crushing. They rebuilt the seawall, parking lots while closing down all the fun party spots. They built "Beach Place" later, but it's failed to really become a "destination".
Some ok but overpriced restaurants, "Elbow Room" is still there and a few other nameless bars.
Comparatively speaking:
"It's dead, Jim"
“We have a lower property tax bill on the ballot. That is a big deal in Florida.”
__________________________________________________________
Oh, I see. Well, that should bring the Conservatives out to the polls. It’s a shame that there’s not true Conservative on the ballot for them to vote for once they get there.
Are they using the ballots with the hanging chads and will they count? Inquiring minds want to know.
Nope. Still using touchscreens, apparently with a redesigned interface.
I had no problem using the machines, but I’m a 23 year old Computer Information Systems major with a major geek-on for his iPod Touch.
Me too...I’m hoping Romney scores a win tonight.
The place to go to dine and drink in Lauderdale for the last ten years or so has been on Las Olas, about a mile and a half inland from the beach. With a few exceptions, the places on the beach are for unknowing tourists, the same way restaurants on Ocean Drive in South Beach are for tourists (the better restaurants being a block or two inland).
They didn't look redesigned to me -- in fact, the interface looked the same as it did when it was introduced 6 years ago.
Also, I am doing engineering work today that will have me offline for periods of time; however, I will do my best to keep up with things.
I wasn’t eligible to vote 6 years ago, so I’m just going off what I’ve heard.
Doesn’t really matter if the interface is redesigned or not, so long as the poll workers aren’t total idiots in terms of operating them.
I believe all they have to do is make sure the right cartridge is plugged in. If they screw that up, presumably the voter will say something about being presented with a Dem ballot when he’s actually a GOP voter.
Well, here’s the thing about that; when I went in this morning, the poll worker configuring my machine was doing her thing when another started giving “advice” on how to do it. He thought I was a democrat, apparently, because after a few seconds he asked “What party is it?” After hearing “Republican,” he said “Oh, nevermind, you were doing it right before.”
So my faith in their ability to correctly insert a cartridge is slightly shaken.
FNC is pushing the huckster and mccain.
Its the MSM template, just starve the airtime from the one they don’t want to win.
Huckster has abandoned FL to move on to tennessee to court thompson supporters.
Joe, your pings are appreciated. Thanks for all you do!
Florida either uses touchscreens or optical scanners. It depends on the county.
Every county is moving to optical scanners by this fall. But some counties didnt have time to switch over before this election.
I'm a big fan of FNC, but I just can't get over how it ignored Fred and is pushing McNuts. Thank God for Rush to counter their bias.
I hope you are right, but I have sick feeling in my stomach that McCain is taking this.
When will the “exit” polls start coming in? /s
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