I'd just checked into the Kodak Theater in Hollywood about 15 minutes ago when I got a timely call from Laura Winchester, vice chair of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee -- timely, because it comes as the mass of assembled media here prepares to cover this evening's one-on-one Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Winchester reported the latest voter registration figures from Ventura County, as of Tuesday. They show that Democrats are now just 474 voters shy of parity -- within striking range of overtaking Republicans and having a plurality of the registered voters in the county. The county became a Republican county in the mid-1980s and the GOP has held supremacy since. A shift to a Democratic county would obviously provide a big boost to the enthusiasm of local activists heading into the November presidential election.
"It's very doable," Winchester said.
She reports that the latest surge is the result of voter-registration drives at community college campuses -- yet another indicator that young adults are focusing on the 2008 election as they have seldom done before.
It will be a very sad day if/when the county turns blue (no offense Laura Winchester).
Hey Timm!
Great blog story - wish I could have been at the Kodak tonight for the Debate! The local Dems are SO excited about our registration numbers - it's been 4 years of hard work and determination by mostly volunteers, working the various fairs in the county, tabling in front of stores, holding registration drives at schools, support from electeds and new efforts of groups like Vote Blue, to get where we are today. The Reps had a 16,000 registration advantage in '04, we cut that down to 10,600 in '05, 6,800 in '06, 2,400 at the end of '07. And now in just the past 30 days, we have them down to a 454 advantage. We've got the GOP on the run in Ventura County! We've got a great team in the local Dem Party and more are joining us to get involved in this exciting presidential year. Congrats to all involved who made this happen, I'm so proud to be a part of this team. And let's keep pushing and show the Reps how "a mission is really accomplished" www.venturacountydemocrats.com
No worries, Katie. The people of Ventura County have far too much sense to let this happen.
The biggest winner of all has been in the Undeclared, "DTS" column. The GOP and Dems are sharing shrinking pieces of the pie. While the Dems are certainly doing a better job in their efforts against the Republicans, the swing vote (a rejection of bitter, bickering partisan politics) continues to grow.
This is a reflection of the disgust the voters have of pork spending and abuse of power issues on both sides of the aisle.