Florida Republican says Dems will "register anything with a heart beat -- anything"

madfloridian

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Thu Aug-21-08 10:53 PM
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Florida Republican says Dems will "register anything with a heart beat -- anything"

What a nasty, snide, Karl Rovian type remark from Florida Republican Chair, Jim Greer.

You can tell they are really getting worried in this state at the organization of the Democratic party and the Obama campaign. Democrats have registered 250,000 new voters since January, and the Republicans only 98,000.

�Don�t be concerned about that because they register anything with a heart beat -- anything -- and our party and these leaders, all of you, have the best turnout-to-vote organization in the nation,� Greer said. �They (the Democrats) might register a lot of people but they�re not going to the polls on election day.�

This time, my dear Jim Greer, you might just be surprised.

More from the article:

GOP leaders tell party faithful to ignore Democrat party's registration numbers

Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft of Haines City displayed a �wooden nickel� with a parody of Obama�s campaign slogan -- �Change We Can�t Afford� -- and a bumper sticker referring to his former minister, �My Pastor Says God Bless America.�

Senft also recalled Sen. Hillary Clinton�s criticism of Obama from their long and hard-fought primary campaign.

�I hate to say I agree with Hillary,� said Senft. �But she was right -- he�s not qualified.�

And they are still using the tired old slogan that we have not been attacked since 9/11.

�America has not been attacked again since 2001 and that�s something that this president should be commended for every day,� Greer said. �I�ll tell you one thing -- I�ll take a third term for George Bush any day, over a second term for Jimmy Carter, and that�s what Barack Obama is going to be.�

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said it might have been true, before the 2004 election, that his party concentrated more on registering voters than getting them to the polls. But he said that since 2006, the Democrats have won a state Cabinet seat, two congressional seats and nine formerly Republican legislative seats by mobilizing the grass roots. Jotkoff also marvelled at Greer�s dismissal of the �third Bush term� label that Obama and major Democrats have hung on McCain.

�Is he conceding that John McCain is a third term for George Bush? I am amazed that he admits that,� he said. �But, hey, if he wants that comparison, we�ll take it.�

I can not really speak to the Democratic party organization itself, as we have been rather estranged from the local groups.

However I can tell you that the Obama campaign just opened the 3rd office in our medium sized city. One of them appears to be way out of town and rural. Two closer in. I think that is amazing.

David Plouffe on a recent conference call was clearly amazed.

Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe held a brief conference call with Florida volunteers tonight, noting that the campaign challenged them to make 50,000 phone calls in 48 hours and they are now at "more than 125,000 calls and counting, which how this campaign is going to be won - people like you in the communities talking to your neighbors and colleagues about Barack Obama,'' he said. "At the end of the day we believe this election in Florida and nationally will be won one door knock, one call at a time."

"In the last 48 hrs you've showed what this campaign is going to be capable of in the fall,'' said Plouffe, noting the demographic shifts and voter registration trends make Florida a strong opportunity for Obama.

Plouffe hails Florida ground troops

The campaign is extremely well-organized as a separate entity and doing a lot of amazing things.

"Whatever they're doing on the grass roots campaign clearly is not working,'' said Republican consultant Doug McAlarney of Tallahassee. "It's clear if they want to run a grass roots campaign, they have to do something different."

....The worry by Florida Republicans is justified 90 days out from election day, with the huge Obama operation under way here. It's also probably premature, given signs that the GOP machine is revving up with more canvassing events and phone banks like the one where Riley works.

But with well over 200 full-time staffers in Florida � four times as many as McCain and the Republicans � and some 150,000 Florida volunteers registered online, Obama is building a Democratic campaign machine that could finally challenge the GOP's mastery of ground-game tactics.

"In a volunteer-driven movement like this, our role in a lot of ways is customer service oriented. We have to make this campaign as accessible to regular voters who want to help Barack Obama as we can,'' said Steve Schale, the veteran Florida strategist leading Obama's Florida campaign.

There are frequent calls to house the Obama campaign volunteers, there are calls to do other things as well. At least we are getting to take part in this historic campaign. People I least expected to take part are making some of the calls.

It is heartwarming after all we went through in the primaries to feel a part of things again.