"More than a quarter-million Virginians have registered to vote since the beginning of the year, and jurisdictions that have traditionally voted Democratic are registering voters at the fastest pace, according to statistics released Tuesday by the State Board of Elections.
Virginia does not have party registration, but in almost every county and city with a history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, the number of registered voters has increased by about 10 percent since Jan. 1.
Counties that have voted Republican recently are registering much lower percentages of voters, the statistics show.
In addition, 62 percent of new voters are younger than 35, and 42 percent are younger than 25, according to the state numbers.
The statistics suggest that Democrats could have a bigger base this year than in the 2004 presidential contest if they can get newly registered residents to vote on Election Day.
Since the start of the year, 283,695 people have registered to vote in Virginia, including 33,175 during the first half of September. And with the Oct. 6 registration deadline approaching, elections officials expect a crush of new applications." Tim Craig
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I think "The Old Dominion" may go Democratic in the presidential election.
Contrary to the out of state babble heard in the 24/7 news this chance for Obama does not seem to be based on the fabled "demographic shift" in the commonwealth. That plays a part, but the real problem for the Republicans is that they continue to think Virginians are the same as everyone else. In fact, people in the commonwealth have a general tendency to think for themselves and a weakness for "common sense."
For a number of past elections, the Republican Party has tried to import party leadership from elsewhere in the country for a takeover of the Virginia Republican Party. These leaders have a national party agenda involving "outreach," "inclusiveness," "multi-culturalism," and all the other baggage of the national party. They have generally had a tendency to think that they, personally, would be acceptable and that their agenda would carry the day. From the time that the party nominated Earley for governor until today, the belief has been widespread in party circles that anyone could be run as a Republican in Virginia and be elected. Defeat after defeat has proceeded from this belief.
The Republican ticket teeters on the brink of defeat in Virginia. Why? Virginians are not so foolish as to want to elect an "old coot" who has sold out to the "branding" philosophy of the merchandisers. At the same time, that "old coot" (McCain)subscribes to the political and economic philosophy of one of the most egregious and unpopular administrations in the history of the US.
Are Virginians mad for Obama? No, but they are more unhappy with the national Republican Party and Mr. Bush. pl
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603152.html
