Holy crap! I love this primary!!!

I have spent the last three weeks in a state of almost constant anxiety, about the ugliness of this primary season.  A long time ago, when this primary season started, I vowed that no matter what happened, that I would vote for anyone who was the eventual Democratic nominee.  As the weeks have dragged on, I have been more and more scared that when the primary was over, all the bad blood between the candidates would spill over into the general election, and cause us to lose to McSame in November.

Please, please, please, I thought, just make this stop.

Well, no more.  Now, I love this primary, and I think it's the best thing to happen to the Democratic party in my (short) political memory.  Why?  For one simple (ok, not so simple) reason: this primary has turned f**king Pennsylvania blue.

What am I talking about?

The state now has 4,119,213 registered Democrats. Since March 24, the last day of eligibility for the primary election, the state has received 33,281 new Democratic registrations and 45,977 party changes to the Democratic Party. The secretary of state’s office is still accepting new registrations and party switches that were postmarked by the deadline.

State officials said the activity on the final day was intense, and these new numbers likely include large swaths of registrations that were collected by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns and submitted just before the deadline.

Since the first of the year, the state has received 101,499 new Democratic applications and 132,688 switches to the Democratic Party.

By contrast, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania now stands at 3,197,586 people. Only 32,191 citizens have joined the Republican roles and 13,937 have switched to the GOP since January 1.

(h/t Jonathan Singer at MyDD)

Why does this excite me?  Pennsylvania is a purple state that has been trending blue for the last fifteen years.  Bill Clinton won twice, Al Gore won in 2000, and Kerry won in 2004.  Before this primary, PA voter registration between the parties had been roughly equal across the entire state.  Right now, Democrats have an almost 1,000,000 voter advantage in Pennsylvania, and almost 200,000 of those registered since the beginning of the year.  And that is thanks in part to the freaking primary I have been silently wishing way.

It's not just PA.  Because of this primary season, many millions of new voters all over the country are registering as Democrats. Many more millions of people (like me), for the first time, can speak intelligently about caucuses, primaries, and delegates.  If they didn't already, they know who their state party chairman is.  Heck, now I know what a credentials committee is!!  

Thanks to this primary, there are now millions of new, excited, informed, engaged, Democratic voters. New voters that are already participating in the process, maybe donating to or volunteering for a campaign. For the Democratic party, this primary has been the political equivalent of printing one's own money, except it's legal.  

And even if the primary gets uglier, I no longer believe that all these new voters are just going to stay home and disengage if their candidate doesn't win.  They'll be angry, but already invested in the process, and will know some channels into which to direct their rage or frustration.  (Perhaps the DNC will need a dedicated phone line for angry calls.) And as long as they are still involved, there is still time for the Democratic Party to work together and beat McSame.

I am not saying this primary season has been perfect, or that I hope it lasts forever.  But thanks to our rabid partisanship, we are blowing the Republicans out of the water in money raised, number of donors, and number of registered voters.  There are more of us than there are of them, even in red and purple states.  And that, my friends, is a recipe for kicking butt, electoral style.

•  I love

  The high level of engagement and political awareness this primary is engendering.  

  I just hope we can use our energy for something that is ultimately constructive.

  by mffarrow on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 12:30:21 AM PDT

•  I happy for your enthusiasm mffarrow and hope you

  are right.  But let's not forget that at least some of the newly registered "Dems" are  Republican trouble makers who will return to their broods come fall.

  The general election head to heads show pretty much ties between either of our candidates and McCain.

  The sad part is that apparently about 18% of Obama's fall support would be true cross over independents that will expand the party.

  Whereas, at least some of the 25% of "true-blue" HRC voters who tell pollsters they will bail out and support McCain if HRC losses are grandstanding, and will hopefully sober up once they recognize the consequences of having McCain appoint the next 2 to 3 multidecade Supreme Court Justices that would be expected to overturn not only Roe v Wade, but Grunwald, and other right to privacy foundations important to keeping GLBT activities legal, as well as our last bastion of civil liberties against the excess Patriot Act infringements.

  Tremendous damage is being done in some areas.

  As well as a sad misallocation of resources away from McCain not even to mention the cash, time, and attention starved worthy downticket Dems we need for supermajorities in the House, Senates and local races.  

  by HoundDog on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 12:41:28 AM PDT

  •  I don't think it's necessarily the

    "trouble makers" that are actually the problem.  I doubt that most Republicans are strategically voting based upon who they think would be easier to run against but rather who they think would be the lesser of two Democratic evils.

    It's true that they may support McCain in the fall, and that is cause for concern that counteracts that rush of excitement.

    Of course, what I'm hoping is that, even if existing voters aren't shifting more Democratic, that emerging young voters are significantly more Democratic than Republican, because that's the way that values change over time...generational change.  Most people stick with their political leanings throughout life, so more support from the younger generations has a more powerful long term effect.

    by Meng Bomin on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 01:01:30 AM PDT

    •  I tend to agree with you

      I think that reports of Repubs switching parties to game the system are just a PR move to scare Democrats.  I'll bet that those party switchers are actually becoming Dems, and that the Republicans are trying to put the best possible spin on their party's failure.

      by mffarrow on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 01:12:05 AM PDT

•  But keep in mind that...

  between 19%-28% of these people will be voting for McCain.

  ;-)

  by Trix on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 12:43:24 AM PDT

  •  I'm hoping

    that a lot of those can be mollified, or "bribed" back into the fold.  :)

    by mffarrow on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 01:07:07 AM PDT

  •  not when McCain gets bashed n/t

    by B P Pgh on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 03:17:14 AM PDT

•  We'll see what happens ...

  ... after the blood is mopped off the floor and the Dems finally --  finally -- decide on a candidate. I predict these droves of seemingly rabid Dems will stay home in their millions on Election Day, for no other reason than that their guy/gal isn't the candidate. Picture Achilles sulking in his tent, or a spoiled pre-adolescent pouting in the bedroom.

  by CrustyPolemicist on Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 01:41:29 AM PDT