CA-50: Turnout

Democratic turnout in the early contests has been abysmal. CA-50 is looking no different.

Turnout appeared especially light in California's 50th Congressional District, which Cunningham had represented from 1993 until he resigned in disgrace late last year. In March, he was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison on charges of evading taxes and accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors [...]

Voters were scarce at a sampling of polling places in the wealthy coastal district Tuesday morning. Volunteers at a polling place in San Diego's Del Mar Heights neighborhood reported only 16 people had voted by lunchtime."

And from the National Journal:

The off-year 2002 vote was about 160K, with about 290K in 2004. If today's vote will be closer to 100K, that suggests something less than strong grass-roots enthusiasm.

The Democratic leadership thinks that the GOP implosion will ipso facto translate to Democratic victories in November. But the electorate is universally disenchanted with politics.

The GOP has proven, time and time again, that it is incapable of governing. But Democrats have not shown they are any different. They do not paint any bright lines between them and us. And they do nothing to motivate the Democratic base to turn out and vote.

My sense of pessimism for November's elections only gets deeper the more elections show lower and lower turnout. Our supporters have stopped giving a shit. They were burned three elections in a row, and seeing nothing different come from the leadership, it has become easier for them to tune out.

There has got to be change in strategy from DC. Because right now, the Democratic leadership is just as reality-addled as the GOP's.

Update: This is all based on anecdotal evidence, so I could end up with egg in my face once the final results are in. And hopefully that's the case. The real test will be whether Busby beats Kerry's performance of 43.4% in the district. Because we know Republicans in the district are turned off and not voting. Will Dems vote in greater percentage? The results of the absentee ballots are NOT encouraging.