Republicans Crossing Over to Vote in Democratic Contests

[ckramer]

Source: nyt

INDIANAPOLIS — Until now, Shirley Morgan had always been the kind of voter the Republican Party thought it could count on. She comes from a family of staunch Republicans, has a son in the military and has supported Republican presidential candidates ever since she cast her first ballot, for Richard M. Nixon in 1972.

Melissa Achtien, a Republican, canvassing for Senator Barack Obama in Fishers, Ind., ahead of next week’s Democratic primary, in which she plans to vote. Darlene Boatman, a Republican, will vote in the Democratic primary, too: “Much as I like John McCain as a war hero, I am fearful he does not have the depth of experience to fix the economy.”

But this year Mrs. Morgan exemplifies a different breed: the Republican crossing over to vote in the Democratic primary. Not only will she mark her ballot for Senator Barack Obama in the May 6 primary here, but she has also been canvassing for him in the heavily Republican suburbs of Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis — the first time she has ever actively campaigned for a candidate.

“I used to like John McCain, but he’s aligning himself too closely with what Bush did, and that’s just not what I want for this country,” Mrs. Morgan, who is 56, said when asked to explain her rejection of the presumptive Republican nominee.

Since the start of the primary and caucus season in January, Republican voters have been crossing over in increasing numbers to vote in Democratic contests — supplying up to 10 percent of the vote in states that allow such crossover voting — and they are expected to play a pivotal role in the fiercely contested primary here. What is less clear, however, is the motivation for their behavior: are they genuinely attracted by the two Democratic candidates? Or are they mischief-making spoilers, looking to prolong a divisive Democratic fight or support a candidate Mr. McCain can beat in November?

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/us/politics/03crossover.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

---

Great for Obama.

[annabanana]

1. This kind of crossing over will make it MUCH harder for the

repugs to steal this election.

[Clear Blue Sky]

2. This doesn't sound like Rush Limblow's "operation chaos"...

[LiberalFighter]

35. Operation Chaos would also work a lot better if they didn't have any races in the Republican side.

Republicans can't afford to vote in the Democratic primary if their intent is to screw up Democratic Party's choice for President. I'm sure there are enough candidates with opposition in the Republican primary. They risk their main candidates losing.

Any voter will have to consider whether they want to risk candidates of their choice in other races losing because they want to cause chaos. It could result in a reverse chaos.

In addition, those who are "true" Republicans will have to consider whether they want to have a "D" on their public voting record. Do they want that stigma?

[pnwmom]

3. "Great for Obama"? Not according to the article. Looks like a toss-up.

SNIP

Initially, Mr. Obama seemed to be getting the bulk of the vote, attracting moderate Republicans who quickly came to be known as Obamacans and lacing his stump speech with references to them. But more recently, Mrs. Clinton’s share of the crossover vote has grown.

In Wisconsin’s Feb. 19 contest, for example, Mr. Obama got about three-quarters of the votes cast by those identifying themselves as Republicans. In Texas’ March 4 primary, though, he and Mrs. Clinton split the Republican vote almost evenly, while in Mississippi on March 11, she outpolled him among Republicans by a three-to-one margin.

Even some states without open primaries seem to have experienced crossover voting. In the Pennsylvania vote on April 22, voter surveys indicated that about 5 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary were Republicans who switched their party registration; they split their vote almost evenly between the two candidates.

SNIP

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Melissa Achtien, a Republican, canvassing for Senator Barack Obama in Fishers, Ind.,

looks good to me

[pnwmom]

10. Assuming she votes for him in the General Election. n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. oh yes, the triple reverse psychology - spend hours a day canvassing

anyone who has canvassed knows you don't do that if you don't believe in the cause.

Rush Limbaugh wants Hillary to be the nominee and thats a fact.

[dlkinc0329]

12. Republicans voting for Obama

I don't trust former republicans anymore than I trust Obama.

[cyndensco]

16. And you trust hillary?

Why?

[jmowreader]

13. Rush Limbaugh wants Hillary to be the president

Rush Limbaugh's eight most profitable years were the ones when Clinton was in office. He's going to need his own armored car if Hillary wins in November.

[pnwmom]

14. A Republican who hated Hillary might well be motivated to canvas

for Obama, especially if s/he thought McCain had a poor chance in the General Election.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. The reason Repukes cross over to vote for HilBilly is that they think

she will be a weaker candidate agaisnt McLame. The Repukes who do this are mostly following the marching orders of Limp Balls and his ilk, trying to use the primary process to select a weaker general election candidate for their perferred candidate (McLame).

Even with the massive Repuke crossover to support HilBilly for the afore-mentioned reasons, she still is trailing Obama in the popular vote and pledged delegates. The only way she'll get the nomination now is through some sleazy back-room deal. And that will mean the last time I ever vote Democratic. (I've voted Dem in every prez election since Reagan I in 1980).

Come to think of it, I would expect nothing less from the wife of a man who flew back to Arkansas during the New Hampshire primary season in 1992 to preside over the execution of an inmate with an IQ of 69, just so he could prove how "tough" he was on crime. The Clintons set new standards when it comes to the Despicable in the Democratic Party. (I live in Rep. Jane Harman's congressional district and Feinstein's state, so I know all about despicable Dems.)

[fascisthunter]

5. What if, and I Repeat, What if This is Just a Tactic by the GOP

to screw with our Democratic primary? Anyone thinking the same, and if I'm wrong, please tell me.

[ckramer]

7. a possibility

After all, republicans love Hillary, their "safe" presidential candidate:

Republicans are just scared witless in the thought of Obama becoming president.

Republican == war party

Hillary == warmonger

What's perfect match!

[fascisthunter]

8. Well... regardless of WHo They Want

I'm not even going there, we know Limbaugh and many other right wing sources, even sports talk show hosts, are putting efforts into tinkering with our primary.


I swear... the crap the GOP gets away with in our country is sickening. yet they are the first to bitch about Democrats being..... "unfair".

[tiptoe]

29. another possibility re Hillary

HRC == "get out of jail free" card for potential *Co targets of investigations for (you name it)

[Glorfindel]

24. Of course, that's part of it, maybe the biggest part

Here in darkest Mississippi, that's the tried and true Repuke strategy. They vote in the Democratic primaries in DROVES, because they don't really care who the 'puke nominee is. We wind up with "Democratic" nominees who are even more rabidly conservative that the Repukes they are running against, making the likes of Haley Barbour and Thad Cochran look like sensible moderates. :puke: :puke:

[fascisthunter]

32. Sorry to Hear that Glorfindel

It's good to talk about this stuff. I for one am much younger than lot's of experienced DUers here, and when you folks let me know stuff like this, I let others know. It does make a difference.

[tiptoe]

28. see this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=501546&mesg_id=501546

[fascisthunter]

31. thanks....

There it is....

Also, please read post#32

[CRF450]

30. A repuke family member is doing exactly this

She's going to vote for Hillary because she beleives that McCain can easily take her down. More people should know of this tactic.

[Mountainman]

6. How did McCain get the "war hero" title and what does being a pilot and a POW have to do with

ground combat?

[ckramer]

9. What Really Happened When He Was a POW?

"Hero" John McCain as Phony and Collaborator: What Really Happened When He Was a POW?

===========

“McCain had a unique POW experience. Initially, he was taken to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison camp, where he was interrogated. By McCain’s own account, after three or four days he cracked. He promised his Vietnamese captors, “I’ll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital ...

“His Vietnamese captors soon realized their POW, John Sidney McCain III, came from a well-bred line in the American military elite. . .The Vietnamese realized, this poor stooge has propaganda value. The admiral’s boy was used to special treatment, and his captors knew that. They were working him.”

“. . .two weeks into his stay at the Vietnamese hospital, the Hanoi press began quoting him. It was not ‘name rank and serial number, or kill me’. as specified by the military code of conduct. McCain divulged specific military information: he gave the name of the aircraft carrier on which he was based, the number of U.S. pilots that had been lost, the number of aircraft in his flight formation, as well as information about the location of rescue ships.”

“…McCain was held for five and half years. The first two weeks’ behavior might have been pragmatism, but McCain soon became North Vietnam’s go-to collaborator…..McCain cooperated with the North Vietnamese for a period of three years. His situation isn’t as innocuous as that of the French barber who cuts the hair of the German occupier. McCain was repaying his captors for their kindness and mercy.

“This is the lesson of McCain’s experience as a POW: a true politician, a hollow man, his only allegiance is to power. The Vietnamese, like McCain’s campaign contributors today, protected and promoted him, and, in return, he danced to their tune. . .”

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn04192008.html

[tritsofme]

17. This is the sort of swiftboating that should be radioactive to Democrats.

Filth like this is the realm of Republicans.

[jaybeat]

19. Its not swiftboating if its the truth

McBlame's flipping for the North Vietnamese is a well-established fact, that has been whitewashed out of popular consciousness by the "McCain the POW/war-hero" script.

Now, I don't think that a head-on nasty-ad in the General election would be a good or effective strategy (given that neither Obama nor Hillary have ever even been in the military, not to mention in combat, wounded, captured, interrogated, tortured, etc.--I think it would get McCrazed all kinds of sympathy blow-back and put focus on the Dem's lack of warrior cred), but he's NOT a "hero" as we usually define it. (If he wasn't the son of a famous Admiral, he might have done a good bit of hard labor after he was sprung.)

I DO think that the press (not that we have one, anymore, in the country--maybe the BBC?) should hit on this hard. That would expose the two-faced, BS spin of his war "story" but the Dems could distance themselves and say "It is not for us to question the service of those who have put their lives on the line blah, blah, blah..." The duplicity would be exposed, the doubts would be raised, but the Dems could stay above the fray.

But, of course, since the so-called press is no more than a corporate propaganda organ, we won't see anything of the sort.

:eyes:

[mitchum]

22. "Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?"

[mitchum]

21. Silly boy, dropping bombs on women and children is a hallmark of heroism

[olddad56]

23. Where is the glory in being shot down?

[mitchum]

27. Hey,it was the fifth, but last plane he lost...

he heroically quit wasting expensive American resources paid for by we the people
Give him a break!

[LiberalFighter]

37. Exactly! He spent most of his time as a POW.

They need to ask what did he do before or after this time that warrants him being called a hero.

[ToughLuck]

18. Desperate Republicans want Obama to lose thinking Hillary easy to beat

Freaking slime balls, willing to steal , cheat their way to win any election..scumbags the lot of them.

[salin]

20. Earlier today I was at an Obama speech/rally in Indianapolis

it was powerful - I saw Clinton (Bill) during each of his presidential campaigns - he is a more charismatic speaker. BUT - the connection to this crowd was stronger than anything I recall in the Clinton speeches. And those were to more traditionally welcoming areas to dems (1992 - Ann Arbor Michigan; 1996 S.F. Bay Area). This crowd was in central Indiana - and the connection to the crowd was palpable. Spontaneous (not cued) "Yes We Can" chants just broke out throughout the speech.

If you had told me ten years ago that I would have moved back to Indiana - and attended such an event with such a phenomenal response... in Indianapolis? I would have told you, you are/were crazy.

[LiberalFighter]

36. I wouldn't consider Indy to be a Republican city.

Back in the early 90's it would had been more difficult but since at least the 2000 Census many Republicans migrated to the surrounding counties. In addition, the 7th which is most of Indy has been in Democratic control for many years. If anything, Marion County could go either way.

[coriolis]

25. Why isn't this cheerleading post in GD-P?

:grr: :eyes:

[bemildred]

26. Why is this not considered to be Republicans switching to Democrat?

Can we not start talking about Obama Republicans just like we used to talk about Reagan Democrats?

[bitchkitty]

33. Bad taste...

He was still there, in a prison camp. I don't think any of us should judge what a man does under those circumstances.

[Zorra]

34. Never, never ever trust any republican. n/t