Unofficial 2011 NY-09 special election results.
Turner, Bob GOP 32,212 54%
Weprin, David DEM 27,460 46%
2010 NY-09 Election Results
Weiner, Anthony Dem 47,004 59%
Turner, Bob GOP 33,330 41%
The GOP turned their people out and in similar numbers to what they turned out in the 2010 election when they were even more motivated. The Democratic party put up a lackluster candidate and people stayed home.
I don't know how you convince people that voting for a candidate that isn't close to their ideal is better than giving power to people that want to destroy the social safety net and return us to a David Copperfield world (and you can read that any way you'd like), but it's something that must be done. Voter turnout is going to be a huge problem in 2012 and some of that is Obama's fault and some of it is not. But we cannot allow what happened in NY-09 (Dems staying home in large numbers) to happen in the general.