My my my. I wonder if the Republicans in Collier County are getting a little nervous, or if a tactic like the one described below is simply par for the course (a golf pun! in Naples! nice!).
Published in Naples Daily News, Sept. 21, 2008
Article by Harriet Howard Heithaus
Ira Sharp, president of the Collier County Democratic Club, counts around 100 complaints here from Democrats who say they’ve received [a] letter, which asks them to confirm their registration as members of the Republican Party by mailing a preprinted card, in a postage-paid reply envelope, to the Republican National Committee.
It also asks for a donation to GOP candidate John McCain’s presidential campaign.
Article
Maybe if this "verify your membership in the Republican party" scam doesn't work out for the local Republicans, they'll try the old "forclosure = no-vote" caging tactic (a la Michigan).
QUICK UPDATE: There's an example of the letter at Political Place
Wow. Even more at The BRAD BLOG
This area of Southwest Florida has typically been very right-leaning.
How right-leaning, you ask? Let's just go with some anecdotal evidence.
In 2004, those ubiquitous "W-04" stickers were everywhere to be seen. OK - no surprise there. But a huge number of cars around here were still festooned with them all the way into 2007 or so. People in Collier County loved President Bush long and hard.
This year is different. I think (hope) that many of those W supporters have taken off their blinders by now. Remember, people, this area (Southwest Florida) has been well-smashed by the mortgage crisis. The contrast between those who no longer have a job or home and the uber-rich fatcats in the city of Naples is a stark one.
Surprisingly (or maybe not...), with our next election just around the corner, I see very few McCain/Palin stickers around here. Ditto for yard signs. Grand total of GOP bumper stickers I've seen since the primaries: 2. Grand total of yard signs: 2. I find the lack of enthusiasm for McCain/Palin here to be very encouraging. By contrast, the Democrats around here seem pretty fired up.
I do see a LOT of Obama/Biden stickers on local vehicles as I commute from the Golden Gate Estates into the city of Naples each work day.
(I haven't seen Obama/Biden yard signs yet, but apparently that is somewhat of a widespread problem with the Obama campaign these days. I may have to paint my own. That's way cooler, anyways.)
MAYBE the Republicans think they have this place in the bag, and therefore don't need to put in too much effort.
BUT if they think that, why get down and dirty with misleading letters? Why try to swell the numbers of "registered" Republicans here?
MAYBE the stats quoted below are why.
Have a look at the SW Florida numbers from this September 19 WBBH-TV/MSNBC article:
Dems Lead The Way In Newly Registered Voters
Thursday, NBC2 found out more than 6,300 people have registered to vote since July 1st in Lee County.
The Democrats lead the way with 41-percent, 28-percent registered Republican, and 31-percent chose to be Independent or non-partisan.
In Collier County, 2,500 people have registered since July 1. 60-percent are Democrats. Republicans account for 27-percent, and 12-percent registered independent.
Article
I think I'll get to painting that sign now.
One last thing: Our local Democrats can use all the help they can get. Mario Diaz-Balart has seen to it that his district is heavily gerrymandered. As you all probably know, he is opposed by Democrat Joe Garcia. This race has been covered pretty extensively so far in kos.
The lesser-known campaign around these parts that could use a hand is that of Democrat Maria Jimenez. She is running against Republican Matt Hudson.
It would be awesome to see Collier County go blue on Nov. 4.