As we all know, the web is full of misinformation especially in regards to political matters. Allow me to correct one mistake that is being repeated on numerous sites all over the internet – North Carolina is not an open primary. What does that mean?
It means that registered Republicans cannot vote in the Democratic Primary. As a matter of fact, the last day to change your registration was on April 11. Therefore, Rush Limbaugh’s operation chaos will not work in North Carolina. However, North Carolina does have a semi-open primary meaning that independents can vote in either the Democratic or Republican Primary. Currently North Carolina has 2.6 million registered Democrats, 1.9 million registered Republicans and 1.2 million non-partisans. I am somewhat surprised by this since I would have thought that Republicans outnumbered Democrats in North Carolina. Did several hundred thousand Republicans re-register as Democrats prior to April 11 in anticipation of the upcoming Democratic primary? I highly doubt that.
Anyway, this bodes well for Barack Obama since he won’t have to worry about Republicans “gumming” up the works for him in North Carolina. As a Republican, it concerns me greatly that registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by such a large margin.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Rush’s “operation chaos” will have an effect in NC if enough Republicans re-registered as Democrats or independents prior to April 11. He encouraged Republicans in Pennsylvania to re-register as Democrats by the deadline there.
The Obama campaign also had an effort to encourage PA voters to re-register as Democrats.
Actually, both NC parties have semi-closed primaries, meaning that each party’s primary is closed to members of opposing parties but open to independents.
In New Hampshire’s semi-closed primaries, an independent who wants to vote in either the Democratic or the Republican primary may do so by changing his registration at the polling place. On emerging from the voting booth, such a voter may either stick with his new party or return to independent status.
Steve Rankin
Jackson, Mississippi
oldsouthwestATaol.com
April 24th, 2008 at 11:48 am
There has always been more democrats than republicans in NC. I have lived in NC all my life, and I know that most people although they are registred democratic, they usually vote republican in the general. They are democrat in name only. The only hardcore democrats that are actually what they say they are, are the black and young wing of the democratic party.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Thanks GPS. I still find that to be odd, but you know what you are talking about. Keep coming by. We are going to need your input for the NC primary
April 24th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This is because in the South Republicans were always associated with Abe Lincoln and the end of slavery.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
GPS is right on the money. So many of them registered Dem because Ma and Pa were Dems, and tend to vote Dem for the state elections (God knows why, considering our State legislature on the Dem side is about as corrupt as New Jersey’s), but tend to vote GOP for the federal elections. Dems do a good job of getting people registered, but, it is getting them to the ballot box is another story.
In NC, you have the big cities that go Dem, as well as the NE corner of the state (there is a large Black population there. I wondered why such a mostly rural area voted that way, and that is what I found out through a lot of sources.)
We also have a large influx of Damnyankees (always one word here in the South) moving into the more urbanized areas.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Just some observations from this weekend..
In the Fort Bragg area I’ve seen more Hillary signs than Obama (10 to 1 in fact). As you were saying William,the northeast corridor is mostly black, however they dont seem to be in the Obama stupor yet.
In short I think the Limbaugh effect, the good ole boy system, the newly announced NC governor’s endorsement of Clinton (Easley is popular here),and the Bradley Effect are going to make this primary a lot closer than what the media,polls, and Obamatrons are thinking.
All the democrats I know from church and socially are Clinton supporters.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Yeah, 25 points seems a bit out there. Personally I think Obama has to win by 15 points at least to score any kind of knock-out. If Hillary can keep it within 10 she really wins. If she can combine that with any kind of win in Indiana you can call it a wash. Then, with the exception of Oregon, Hillary is gonna lay a sclacking on Obama by winning +15 in KY, +25 in WV, +30 in PR.
None of this is going to give Hillary the nomination, but fires and riots in Denver is certainly more and more possible. Get the popcorn ready, this is going to be better then “shock and awe.”
April 28th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Hehe so now if HRC loses for 10 points in NC, she wins….
Obama lost for 10 (9.4 actually) but reps and clintonians talk about a big win from her in a state tailor made for her….
Who can understand them…
Just wait until tuestay, I want to read all the comments and “analysis” about what went wrong for clinton…
April 28th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Pan, its all about expectations.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Let’s play math, and give the exact % of delegates as shown in the poll in every case.
The poll is http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/ and all were conducted in this month (april 2008)
Indiana poll: Obama 48% – Clinton 47% out of 84 del (Obama gets 43 – Clinton gets 41)
North Carolina: Obama 57% – Clinton 32% out of 134 del (Obama gets 86 – Clinton gets 48)
West Virginia: Clinton 55% – Obama 27% out of 39 del (Clinton gets 26 – Obama gets 13)
Kentucky poll: Clinton 62% – Obama 26% out of 60 del (Clinton gets 42 – Obama gets 18)
Oregon poll: Obama 52% – Clinton 42% out of 65 del (Obama gets 36 – Clinton gets 29)
I just took these states. At the end Obama gets 196 – Clinton gets 186. Let’s give the whole 63 delegates of Puerto Rico to Clinton, that makes 249 for her. He’s ahead for 137 delegates….
Clinton will never catch up with Obama and definetly superdelegates will not choose Clinton only because she won Ohio, and Pennsylvania blue collar votes….
But well….
April 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
The issue here is for how long dems will continue struggling and letting granpa Mac alone in the race.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
But they might give it to her because she has a better chance of winning in the GE and she is ahead in the popular vote.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Clinton still trails in the popular vote, unless you give Obama zero votes for Michigan,
and you don’t count the caucus states.
Fuzzy math.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
The math doesn’t matter, folks. Neither can get to the finish line based on math, so in the end, the math will be out the window.
The primaries are not based on any kind of constitutional/democratic rules. It’s purely designed by the party to provide the best candidate. If no one can win outright, the candidate with the best argument for being the nominee will win.
Will you ever bet against the Clintons in a debate? Not me.
It’s gonna be Hillary. Throw the math out the window now.