http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-03252008-1508318.html
Big
gains for suburban Democrats
By JENNA PORTNOY
The Intelligencer
Now that Pennsylvania will have a say in the primary,
Adam Glenn of Hilltown wants to, also.
“I didn’t even know I was registered independent until
I got a call from the Obama people telling me the
deadline was today,” he said Monday just after joining
the Democrats’ ranks.
He was part of a steady stream of voters who — whatever
their reasons — waited until deadline day to register
for the primary or change their party affiliation.
Pennsylvania will hold a “closed” primary April 22,
which means voters must be registered members of a
political party to vote in that party’s primary.
In Bucks and Montgomery counties combined, more than
20,000 people have joined the Democratic Party since
late last year. While some of those are first-time
voters and new registrations, significant numbers of
them jumped ship from the GOP or a third party or
changed their independent status.
That includes Jenni Murphy, the wife of Democratic
Congressman Patrick Murphy, who dropped her long-held
Republican affiliation to vote for Obama, according to
a release from the Illinois senator’s campaign.
Thanks to people like the congressman’s wife, both
counties have lost about 5,610 Republicans and 1,759
independents.
Lydia Mischenko of Lower Makefield said she’s been
dissatisfied with the Republican Party for years, but
she waited until Monday to make it official.
“I’ve had enough of Republicans,” she said. Yet she
hasn’t settled on Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. “I
will see,” she said. “There’s so much time to decide.”
So far, both counties have netted more than 13,000
voters in the past five months.
“We’re going to get our money’s worth out of the board
of elections this week,” quipped Neil Samuels, Bucks
Democrats deputy chairman, who supports Obama. The
Bucks party also has a Clinton contingent.
Samuels said he’s confident Democrats are gaining due
to the quality of their candidates.
“How you register is a matter of conscience and there
may be a few folks in there who are mischief makers,”
said Samuels, referring to Republicans who may have
switched camps to vote for the candidate they believe
will be more easily defeated in the fall.
“But I would wager the vast, vast majority are
interested in the candidates the Democratic Party is
putting forward as opposed to John McCain.”
The Montgomery County GOP is doing its best to reclaim
Republicans it may have lost to Obama or Clinton with a
Web site proclaiming “Get me back to where I belong!”
Republicans across the state can go to votegoppa.com
and request a registration form, said party chairman
Ken Davis.
Samuels response? “I’ve heard about their Web site and
I don’t think it’ll be a busy place.”
From the numbers, Davis said it’s clear Republicans
masquerading as Democrats will vote for Clinton to stop
Obama from facing presumptive nominee McCain or vice
versa.
In Montgomery County, 8,223 voters switched affiliation
to Democrat and 1,052 voters switched affiliation to
Republican. Bucks County does not analyze its
registration data in that way; the county office only
knows how many have registered, not who switched.
The crush of last-minute electors Monday — fueled by
the parties’ registration drives and door-to-door
efforts by the campaigns —required the county offices
to add staff and stay open later than usual.
“People are three and four deep at the counter,”
Montgomery County voters services assistant director
Patti Allen, said, assessing the situation in
Norristown. “The kind of activity in a primary is
always a surprise, but we’ve had a couple of weeks to
get used to the idea.”
Bucks’ elections director Deena Dean agreed: “We’ve
been working as fast as we can and we have been for
weeks now, working nights and working weekends.”
The piles of forms won’t be tallied for a while, but if
the past several months’ numbers are any guide the
Democrats are likely to gain thousands of new voters to
the detriment of the GOP and independents’ totals.
“We encourage (Republicans) to come back,” said
Montgomery County GOP leader Davis. “We don’t encourage
them to switch. They’re quite able to do that all by
themselves.”
Enter Buckingham’s Richard Scott.
“For the first time in my life, I’ve become a
Democrat,” the loyal Republican said with a smile while
standing outside the elections office in Doylestown.
“And it’ll probably only last a month.”
March 25, 2008 8:05 AM
NOCKAMIXON
DEMOCRATS
