This article appeared on the FRONT PAGE of the Thursday afternoon edition of the Omaha World-Herald.
In what may be a good omen for Obama, Esch and Kleeb, for the first time in 14 years Douglas County's registered Democrats now outnumber those of Republicans!
This is not much of a diary, but just an update on the HUGE sign of hope and change in Omaha and the success of the Obama ground game.
Some of the numbers:
Since January 15, over 15,000 new Democrats.
Douglas County Democrats = 125,602
Douglas County Republicans = 122,955
Douglas County Independents = 60,298
Statewide, still pretty red with over 160,000 Republican advantage.
My take (not that it means anything):
It should be noted that NE-02 also includes Sarpy County which is home to Offutt AFB. I'm not sure about the registration numbers there but, I lived there for 8 years and it is a bit more Republican than Douglas County. But who knows where the military goes this year.
That being said, given Obama's establishment of 3 offices in Omaha and the hard work of volunteers, coupled with these numbers and the 2nd could still go blue. These numbers are very encouraging. The fact that about 1/5 of RVs are Indpendent makes me unsure but Obama paraphenalia is very present in town and not anywhere near the amount of McCain stuff compared to W stuff four and eight years ago. And I know no small number of Republicans and Independents who voted GOP in the past who are voting for Obama in '08.
I really think this bodes well for Jim Esch as well. I am encouraged not only by these registration numbers but also by kos diary that has Lee Terry as a "2" on the GOP death watch. Terry only beat Esch by 9 in '06 and with more Dems now than then, this could be good.
Finally, this is certainly a positive for Kleeb as well. Time and again, the concern has been that he will do well out west because he has name recognition out there, but is relatively unknown in Omaha. My optimistic self tells me that if these Dems are filling in the oval next to Obama, there is no way in hell they are going to fill in the one next to Johanns too.
Change is coming to Omaha! Change is coming to Nebraska! And change is coming to America1