[Originally published at Corrente.]
[NOTE: This is not the Nevada flyer. This is a Florida flyer.]
Sheesh:
WANNA BECOME AN OBAMACRAT?!!!
By Obama Florida 2008
Published: April 24, 2007
That's why "Democrat for a Day" was launched this spring by ObamaFlorida2008. Using the official forms provided by all Supervisors of Elections offices, you may re-register as a Democrat for that one day -- when the primary is likely to be held -- on February 5, 2008. You must do so before the end of 2007, to make sure it is done 30 days before the primary.
But this is not about some "hard sell" to recruit voters to become permanent Democrats. Not at all. After the primary, you may re-register back to the
Republican or Libertarian parties, or revert to your previous status as an Independent! There will be plenty of time before the general election in November 2008.
ObamaFlorida2008 recognizes and respects all citizens who have varying points of view. We just want to make it make it possible to vote for Barack Obama in the primary -- or for that matter -- anyone you wish.
Duval, Hillsbrough, Pinellas, Alachua, Leon, Volusia, Nassau, Clay, Okaloosa, Polk and St. Johns voters are already re-registering in the "Democrat for a Day" program.
Within weeks, it will be expanded to all 67 counties in Florida.
And, from the standpoint of the Obama campaign, it is a win-win situation! For example, how many Republicans do you think will re-register to vote for our respected opponent Hillary Clinton? That's right ... virtually no one.
But we're finding that up to 20 percent of Obama supporters are registered Republicans.
Surely inviting Republican voters to crash Democratic primaries "for a day" is carrying the Unity Schtick just a little too far?
Look, I know Kos is getting Democrats to register as Republicans in Michigan, since Democrats don't have a primary, and by crossing over we can deke the Republicans but good.
So, it's not like the idea of gaming a primary by crossing party lines isn't in the air.
But isn't it just a little naive to think that Republicans would never game the system in Florida, if they believed--for example--that Obama would be the weaker candidate in the general?
Two implications:
First, the Nevada incident is not isolated [link changed to TPM story], and it's not the work of an "overzealous volunteer." It's part of a pattern.[Toning this down, for Bob]. The NV volunteer has stated that the flyer was his own idea. Personally, I've seen way too many "overzealous volunteers" and way too many arms-length operations to be comfortable with such a denial. And the new, second flyer incident in FL increases my concern.
Second, it's all about the unbearable lightness of being Obama. It's not about making Democrats, or the Democratic party, stronger at all.
And ya know? Call be a bitter partisan, divisive, and a hater of the Unity Pony, but as a Democrat, it would really frost me to have my vote in a Democratic primary cancelled out by somebody who voted for Bush in, say, Florida 2000. Eh?
Or, to put the above somewhat more abstractly, I understand that Obama and his supporters believe in being post-partisan. And in theory, that sounds great. However, I don't think most people thought that Obama, when he talked about "unity," was going to operationalize that concept with a concerted scheme to get Republican voters to decide Democratic primaries. And, like so much of Obama's oratory, it sounds great. Until you get practical and operationalize it. Worse, if that's what Obama had in mind, he might have told somebody about it. This way, it looks underhanded. Not like "new" politics at all.
NOTE Provenance: The first link, to Obama's Florida site, is from 1950dem, a commenter at TPM. Here's the Google cache, in case the original disappears.
And oddly, or not, the Florida Obama site has some work being done on it right now:
Interesting.
UPDATE MyDD has more.
UPDATE Foolishly, I made the polling a three-way race. I think the right answer is "Ponies for Everybody" because that's what Yes is going to boil down to in practice. Did I say naive? I meant suicidally naive. Sorry.
