The Georgia Primaries were live-blogged by many kossacks last night here:
http://www.dailykos.com/... and the glorious news of Ralph Reed's crash and burn has been diaried by several and highlighted by Kos on the front page.
As hilltopper points out in the comments to Kos's story, perhaps the biggest news of yesterday's primary is the relatively tremendous turnout of Georgia Dems.
On the flip I provide some layman's (and single-cup of coffee) examples of turnout numbers of the various races and my initial take on how this bodes for November '06 and beyond.
In short, things are looking good for the Dems even down here in Red Clay Georgia. What are your thoughts?
With 96% of precincts reporting, the Secretary of State (who will be returning to private practice when her term expires, hopefully to be replaced by Darryl Hicks) reports the following total votes: (source:
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/...)
Dem Gov - 476544
GOP Gov - 414575
There were 61,969 more Democrats who cast a ballot for a Democratic Governor, or 15% more Dem voters than GOP!
By my count, there was a total turnout of around 17.8% (including "inactive" voters - http://www.sos.state.ga.us/...). It's difficult to find a source for the total number of registered Georgia voters, because, after all, we're still subject to the Voting Rights Act. According to what I could find, there are approximately 5 million voters on the books, and, as you can tell, 891,119 souls cast a vote for Governor. Sadly, the total population of Georgia is about 9 million (http://quickfacts.census.gov/...), so using that figure the total turnout was only about 9%. I'm not sure how the "experts" do it, but I'd go with the first number.
In down ballot races, fewer total votes were cast.
And the news as been chock full of stories about "cross-over" voters seeking to rid the world of the evil influence of Ralph Reed. How'd that race turn out?
Lt Gov
Dem - 442906
GOP - 402187
SOS
Dem - 418141
GOP - 364299
The Agriculture Commissioner's race involved a veteran, well-liked Democrat versus a field of upstart Republican challengers. Two of the GOP'ers will head to a runoff. Even uncontested, the Democrat got more total votes.
Agriculture
Dem - 377258
GOP - 357627
So, I think I'll go finish my coffee and see what else is happening in the news, see if I can score a Mark Taylor bumper sticker. I'd love to hear y'all's take on Georgia! Primary! 2006!
I'll be back for the run-off on August 8. Martin-Hecht and McKinney-Johnson matchups will both be interesting.