Today I’m doing the election judge thing here in Chicago for the primary elections. I’ve been volunteering for this ordeal now for 24 years and this is the lowest voter turnout I’ve ever seen. We’ve had fewer than 20 voters in more than 5 hours of the polls being opened. Even in a primary we’d normally have had 200.
I think there are several reasons for it:
- No contests among Democrats. No presidential contest. Mike Quigley is running unopposed. Essentially, it’s a judicial primary and nobody votes in those.
- Few crossovers. A couple of people told me they were Democrats voting strategically (something I think is foolish).
- Lowest voter registration in Chicago in nearly 70 years.
- Plain, old voter fatigue. We’re had enough of it already.
More later.
I don’t vote, maintaining an independent registration status, but driving by my polling place this morning, the number of cars looked the same as a regular election. It tends to be a high turn out area anyway.
I think one dynamic we’ll see is that the Democratic redistricting will increase normal turnout in many Republican areas because the map has placed some Republican incumbents in the same district. In others we have people on both sides fighting for seats they may reasonably expect to hold for ten years if successful. I’ve received push poll calls trying to get me to register Republican and vote.
An independent registration didn’t prevent from getting several calls from Robo-Santorum, repeating that he is the only candidate that offers a clear contrast.
Robo-Santorum, repeating that he is the only candidate that offers a clear contrast.
He’s offering free barium enemas to everyone? First, that’s probably not going to win him many votes, and second, isn’t that socialized medicine?
First Romneycare and now Santorenemas – don’t any of these Republicans believe in market forces anymore?
@Dave Schuler
I’d suggest adding one more reason to the list: an election that feels more meaningless than any in my lifetime. I can’t imagine any serious differences between the two nominees, no matter which is elected.
Santorum as a study in contrasts has a lot of potential, but I didn’t listen to the rest of any of the calls. Once I gave the phone to my eldest thinking SantorumBot would have to have the least offensive talking points of any politician. Then about five beats later I realized SantorumBot is probably the most likely to talk about something inappropriate. Yikes.
Santorum is an interesting man. I like him. He has a fairly coherent world view that hangs together within his parameters.
They just don’t happen to mine.
“be” mine
Ben,
You may be right, but I honestly have no idea what Romney actually believes nor how he would govern. He wants the Presidency so bad he seems willing to say anything to get himself on the ballot.
Unfortunately, Andy, I think that may be what’s necessary to get elected to the presidency these days. Remember that in 2008 Obama didn’t have much in the way of a paper trail or track record to scrutinize. It worked in his favor. You don’t have to worry about contradicting views previously held when nobody knows what the views you’d previously held were.
You’re right Dave. It’s kind of sad that appealing to “the base” during the primaries and then tacking to the “middle” for the general isn’t even controversial. But Romney, it seems to me, takes all this to a new low – a guy who’s done little but run for President for the last 5-6 years and seems to hold few consistent political values. I’d says he’s the worst narcissistic politician I can think of, but then there’s Newt Gringrich.
Andy, have you read Romney’s economic plan? I haven’t either, but its supposed to be lengthy. Its not germane to the Republican contest because Republicans don’t like planning, they vote on personality. I have a fairly good idea of where Romney would like to go economically; I think he’s disinterested in the social issues and clearly on issues like immigration, he is keeping a pivot foot set. On foreign policy, I really don’t know what to expect from either him or an Obama second term other than Romney would probably push free trade more.
And Romney’s communications director says this:
“FEHRNSTROM: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all of [it] over again.”
Dave Weigel quips that that’s a cleaner hit than any of Romney’s competitors have managed.
Andy, have you read Romney’s economic plan? I haven’t either, but its supposed to be lengthy. Its not germane to the Republican contest because Republicans don’t like planning, they vote on personality.
Did you read Game Change? The Clintonites, and even the Biden team, couldn’t believe how thin and weak Obama’s position papers were. Obama got elected primarily because he was half-black* and no one knew what he really wanted to do, because he had such a thin record. It was all platitudes and making people feel hip about voting for the black guy.**
* If Barack Obama were Barry Smith, white dude from Duluth, he wouldn’t have even done as well as Huntsman did this time around.
** Personally I feel we should have elected a Clinton in 2008: George Clinton. Things couldn’t be much worse, they’d probably be better because we wouldn’t take the government as seriously, and you know the parties at the White House and the Kennedy Center Honors would just be smokin’!
PS I know, I know. It was also about McCain acting like everyone’s scary, senile uncle.
Dave Weigel quips that that’s a cleaner hit than any of Romney’s competitors have managed.
Well look at his competitors! I think Ronald Reagan looked up to Ron Paul as a father-figure when Reagan was young, Newt is too busy looking for the future ex-Mrs. Gingrich (when he isn’t thinking about how some obsure procedural changes in the parliamentary functioning of the US House of Representatives might usher in a new golden age), and Rick Santorum is the most stupid man ever to run for the presidency. Of COURSE none of them have come up with a quip this good!
When you consider that Harding actually got elected the competition for that honor is pretty stiff.
Interesting robocall for Santorum’s campaign here today. A gossipy young woman’s voice with a pronounced southern drawl starts right in on Newt Gingrich, then takes Romney apart, then goes on to say the only candidate worth voting for is Santorum. A phone number follows for more information.
Something like picking up the phone on a party line.
Tag, its your turn Janis.
Did they use a different approach up there?
No – the only lengthy fantasy I read has elves and orcs.
@Janis, the recordings I got were all Santorum speaking and I didn’t listen after he described himself as the only candidate offering a clear contrast. From my daughter it sounds like he talked energy policy — Keystone, drilling in Alaska, eliminating pesky envt’l regulations, etc… I’m sure the subject of oil will be big down there.
I had one last week , which I thought was way too early, from Karen Santorum that was boilerplate.
I was intrigued by the style of the one today.
When you consider that Harding actually got elected the competition for that honor is pretty stiff.
IIRC Harding inherited a very nasty economy and by the time he died things had turned around. Perhaps his reputation for stupidity is over-rated.
But regardless of Harding, I’ll stand by my Santorum comment. I’ve been a big fan of Santorum bashing since I first noticed him on the national stage. Pure, unadulterated stupid, filling “a badly needed void.”
I think that reputation was cemented by H. L. Mencken’s f*eulogy of him: “From our midst has passed the only man, woman, or child in American who was unable to utter a simple declarative sentence without three grammatical errors.”
He’s so often mentioned as the all-time worst president, he kept a mistress in the White House, and his administration is generally considered the most corrupt in U. S. history.
Don’t construe these observations as a defense of Santorum in any way, shape, or form. I think the man is as dull as a bag of rocks. Frighteningly so.
Sir, you slander bags of rock everywhere with that calumny.