There's been a lot of talk that the Republican base didn't show up for this election, that they just weren't inspired by McCain.
Looking at the facts, this just doesn't appear to be the case.
More after the jump.
Take VA, for example. Here are the vote totals as of this evening. (FYI -- AP is doing a lousy job of updating their data.)
Obama total - 1,958,370
McCain total - 1,726,053
Compare to 2004:
Kerry total - 1,453,822
Bush total - 1,716,542
Obama won VA by gaining more than 500k more votes than Kerry. But McCain actually increased his total over Bush.
Well, NC didn't look that way, you say. Obama made inroads into the Republican base there, right?
Obama total - 2,142,569
McCain total - 2,128,390
Compare to 2004:
Kerry total - 1,525,849
Bush total - 1,961,166
Actually, McCain did a lot BETTER in NC than Bush, gaining more than 150k votes. But Obama gained more than 600k over Kerry to win the state.
What about Florida?
Obama total - 4,274,370
McCain total - 4,039,848
Compare to 2004:
Kerry total - 3,583,544
Bush total - 3,964,522
Same story -- McCain better than Bush, but Obama WAY better than Kerry.
What's the point? Obama won because he expanded the electorate, not because he "moved" people from Republican to Democrat. If we assume people have "shifted" to the left, and that this win wasn't the result of significant blood, sweat, and tears, we risk having it taken all away from us. Even after the disaster of the last eight years, when all of the votes are finally counted, McCain will end up probably less than a million votes less than Bush.
THINK ABOUT THAT! With the complete disaster of the least eight years, only 1 million fewer people will have voted for the Republican standard bearer in 2008 than voted for Bush in 2004. What an amazing concept. And it just reinforces how hard we need to continue to work to keep bringing new people in, because it doesn't look like we're going to "wake the brain-dead".
Thanks for reading!