Democratic ranks swell in Pennsylvania - Almost A Quarter Million!

[JimGinPA]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/31/democratic-ranks-swell-in-pennsylvania/

(CNN) – Nearly 79,000 Pennsylvanians registered as Democrats last Monday, the state’s deadline for those looking to participate in the April 22 primary.

A near-majority of the Pennsylvania electorate is now Democratic – just over 4 million of the greater than 8 million voters in the state. Fewer than two in five are Republican.

The one-day total includes more than 33,000 new voters and nearly 46,000 Republicans and Independents who switched their registration to the party, according to reports released Monday by the Pennsylvania Secretary of State.

By comparison, around 7,800 Pennsylvanians became Republicans during the same period, including 6,000 new registrants and roughly 1,800 party-switchers.

In all, 132,000 of the state’s voters have switched their registrations to the Democratic Party since January 1, while just 14,000 have moved to Republican rolls. Roughly 102,000 new voters have registered as Democrats since the beginning of this year; around 33,000 have become Republican.

Those numbers may rise, as registrations submitted before the March 24 deadline continue to be processed.

Morning Joe just said the total new Democrats was 234,000 + on Tweety

[NJmaverick]

That will come in handly come November

[Barack_America]

1. A Blue Crush

A Blue Crush

Angela Couloumbis reports: Check out the latest voter registration numbers just released by Pennsylvania's Department of State.

In a single week - the week of March 24th - 42,867 new voters registered to vote. Of that, 33,281 registered Democratic.

In that same week, 45,977 people switched parties to become Democrats, bringing the total number of Ds in the state to over 4 million.

State Republicans have said that they believe they will be able to reclaim many of the GOPers out there who switched camps so they can vote in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

And some have even suggested that Republican loyalists are heeding a call from Rush Limbaugh to temporarily register as Democrats to vote for the candidate who is least likely to beat Sen. John McCain in November.

But still, the numbers are somewhat sobering for the GOP. In the same time period - the week of March 24 - only 1,808 people switched parties to register Republican. And only 5,986 new people signed up under the GOP banner.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/politics/A_Blue_Crush.html

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. This is gonna have an impact on the Primary

and I expect something that pollsters won't be able to track
since it is happening so fast.

[flpoljunkie]

3. There's more! Since 3/24 the state has received 33,281 Dem, 45,977 party changes! Still pouring in!

Massive final-day registration in PA
Posted: Monday, March 31, 2008 1:29 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger

PHILADELPHIA -- While a final number may not be available for a few weeks, the Pennsylvania Department of State has released an update on the number of people registered to vote in the April 22 Democratic primary here. And it shows a massive registration effort on the final day of eligibility.

The state now has 4,119,213 registered Democrats. Since March 24, the last day of eligibility for the primary election, the state has received 33,281 new Democratic registrations and 45,977 party changes to the Democratic Party. The secretary of state’s office is still accepting new registrations and party switches that were postmarked by the deadline.

State officials said the activity on the final day was intense, and these new numbers likely include large swaths of registrations that were collected by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns and submitted just before the deadline.

Since the first of the year, the state has received 101,499 new Democratic applications and 132,688 switches to the Democratic Party.

By contrast, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania now stands at 3,197,586 people. Only 32,191 citizens have joined the Republican roles and 13,937 have switched to the GOP since January 1.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/31/844803.aspx

[Ysabel]

4. wow...k and r...(n/t)

[JimGinPA]

5. I Predicted A Couple Weeks Ago That The New Democrat Numbers Would Be Big...

But this is even bigger than I thought. And they still have a lot to process...

[JimGinPA]

6. kick

[DemVet]

7. One wonders...

...how many of those that registered Democrat recently are actually the "enemy?"

[JimGinPA]

8. Only If One Lacks Cognizant Thinking Skills...

There is a big difference between an independent voter changing to democrat to vote in a primary a month before a primary and a dittohead walking into the poll and asking for a democrat ballot to vote for HRC, the supposed weaker democrat in the GE.