131,000 New Voters Registered - On LONG ISLAND alone! (40% Dem - 25% GOP)

[THUNDER HANDS]

My home, Long Island, has seen over 131,000 voters register this year alone. 40% of which are registering Democrat, 35% registering Independent and just 25% registering Republican.

Folks, this is amazing for a number of reasons.

1. Long Island is the apathy capital of the world. People here don't care about anything, except shopping at the 85 malls that happen to connect us to our homes.

2. Long Island, for the last 100 years, was the heartland of the Northeast GOP. Especially in Nassau County, where I live, this place was where Republicans dominated and could always be counted on to perform well.

3. We are the quintessential suburban community. And in this election, as the suburbs go, so goes the country. We are the definition of the swing geographic - in between the Democratic cities and the Republican rural areas.

4. We are HUGE. If Long Island was its own state, it would be the 10th largest state in the union.

Folks, the suburbs are going Democratic. And like I said, as the suburbs go, so goes the nation. We ARE the new Democratic majority.

I have a feeling Tuesday is going to be a very, very good day for us.

Here's today's Newsday story about it, read it, its so heartening... http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-livote31,0,5028099.story?coll=ny-topstories-headlines

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thanks for the good news!

When I think of Long Island, I think of Teddy Roosevelt and Oyster Bay. Could it be that the seed of progressivism has finally regenerated there?

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. oh yes

Sagamore Hill is a great place to visit, the best museum on Long Island. The traditions of social liberalism, environmental protection and fiscal conservatism run rampant here.

Kerry is going to win Long Island, probably by a margin of 58-42, if not more.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

4. Long Island and progressive in the same sentence?

Wow.

My wife and I have been here for almost a year and it is the most awful place I have ever been; thank God I can leave in a few months when my contract is over.

If Nassau county (where I'm unfortunately situated at the moment) goes Democratic I will be absolutely shocked....these people are miserable.

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. hey give it a chance man

We've voted for Democrat in every election since 1996. Okay, that's only two, but we're going to Kerry again this year.

And in case you haven't noticed, four of our five Congressional reps are Democrats...

Gary Ackerman
Carolyn McCarthy
Steve Israel
Tim Bishop

All are good, solid Democrats and two of them can rightfully be called liberal. The other two are left-leaning moderates.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

6. O.K., O.K.............

I shouldn't have generalized so much;

Most (not all) people here are miserable....and I'll be relieved and happy to see this place in my rearview mirror receding quickly into the horizon when I make my escape in January.

I'll still be shocked if it goes Dem on Tuesday, I have never before been in more heated, violent arguments over politics that go absolutely nowhere because of the utter ignorance of my rival in my life.

You seem nice enough though. :hi:

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. yeah, I'm okay (lol)

Where in Long Island do you live?

There are pockets of GOP-controlled territories on Long Island, usually in Peter King's district - Seaford and some parts of western Suffolk.

I'll GUARANTEE you that L.I. goes for Kerry. GUARANTEE.

BTW, where are you moving to?

[OneMoreDemocrat]

11. We're currently up in..........

Port Washington.

I really, really hope you're right with regard to 'us' going Kerry, I just look around and see more neanderthals per square mile than I've ever seen before and it's more than a little disturbing.

Back to Boston probably.

[Clinton Crusader]

14. HEY! Dont denigrate my home! I wouldnt do it to wherever you're from

I LOVE Long Island and would never leave! I LOVE the people here!




:mad:

[geekgrrl]

3. Wow! I lived there for 7 years and that is amazing!

It's true LI is (used to be) all about political apathy- except for repugs when voting had something to do with their wallets. I am very happy to hear about new voters! Gives me even more hope going into this week...

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Oh, I know Nassau County.

Recepients of New York's financial prosperous times -- at our expense.

You have a good paper and what is helping the Democrats is bad local decisions & policies made by Republican officials. They have no respect for public land and this has pissed off the moderate Republicans among you.

Just the observations of a one time visitor.

[union_maid]

8. I'm still here...(help me!) and we are apathetic indeed!

I live out in Suffolk. We love malls. Young people like the club scene and eschew original music. We love nails. I bet we have more nail salons per capita than anyplace else. We don't have bumper stickers. Because we don't care. The four we have on our car probably more than equals the number I see when driving anyplace. Last week a woman was honking at me as I was driving. I didn't know why and didn't pay a lot of attention until she'd passed me a little. She had a John Kerry and little No W sticker on her car. She was going nuts, giving the thumbs up, just happy to see a fellow traveler. She looked very normal, actually.

We're beligerantly cynical. We'll be voting against someone rather than for anyone. Local politics is unabashedly corrupt. Lawn signs tend to be for local pols and working for them is a good way to get your street plowed when it snows. We are, however, more moderate than we used to be. More equal opportunity cynics, kind of. That's probably because we are more diverse on the whole, even though there's still de facto segregation by community.

Voter registration was taken seriously, however. At one mall that draws a very diverse clientele there was a huge voter registration drive a few weeks ago, sponsored by the NAACP. There was a voter registration thing going on in the supermarket I go to, and that's a pretty quiet location.

One way in which we differ from most of the nation is that we are the bedroom community for many of the police and firefighters in NYC.It seemed like every local volunteer fire department lost someone on 911. How that's going to play out, I don't really know.

[THUNDER HANDS]

10. I don't think 911 will have much of a lingering effect

Bush just isn't popular ANYWHERE in NY, and that includes Long Island too.

First responders got shafted by the Bush administration, don't think the local firefighters and cops and medical personnel don't know that.

Well, maybe not the cops, they've always been in the pocket of the GOP since they doll out $100,000 a year contracts for them and are currently butting heads with Tom Suozzi, our County Executive who's a fresh-faced Democrat who's cleaned up the budget mess the GOP saddled us with.

[Clinton Crusader]

12. Im a Nassau Cty, Long Islander as well and this is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must say Im rather surprised to see that about Nassau, considering the wealth in some areas. Is Suffolk the same??

:wow: :bounce:

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. mostly

you have to remember, Suffolk is a whole lot less populated than Nassau. Lots more open space, so it tends to favor people who value the environment.

Not to mention the fact that the Hamptons is where all the super rich NY liberals go to live in the summer.

But in between the Hamptons and Nassau, there is a gulf where the GOP is still active. Especially in Crook...er, Brookhaven, and the surrounding areas, which are almost the last vestiges of rural life on Long Island.