Somebody Sure Wasn't Thinking

[ThomWV]

Something I noticed. John Edwards lost to Wesley Clark by 838 votes according to the count I saw. John Edwards also received votes in the Republican race yesterday. He got 808 of them there. Think about it. Also, just as an additonal note, there were over 1,400 vots cast for democrats in the republican race. What a waste ....

Thom

[Skittles]

1. sure they were thinking

it's what they had to think with that was the freaking problem

[WingNOT]

2. I think the USA needs MORE of that kind of Republican thinking

Think about it - if Republicans in their own primary are voting for Democrats they could, just possibly, be expressing their dissent with Dubya.

We all know that the Republican base is supposed to be more solid in voting for Republican candidates than the Democratic base (this has been illustrated in opinion polls).

But if Dubya's OWN base is starting to crumble and consider Democrat potential nominees...

... well the chances of a Democrat in the White House may just be looking a lot rosier ! (Assuming the votes are counted this time...)

[Tesha]

3. It would have required calendrically-advanced thought.

It would have required advanced thought (in a calendrical sense).

In New Hampshire, when you register to vote, you declare
a party affiliation. You are either enrolled in the Democratic
Party, enrolled in the Republican Party, or you are "Undeclared".
(The Libertarians briefly had so-called "ballot-status" as well,
but it only lasted two years.)

Yesterday, only those people who were enrolled in the Democratic
Party or who were "Undeclared" could take a Democratic Ballot.
Folks who were enrolled in the Republican Party could only take
a Republican Ballot.

(And yes, it's symmetrical: The "Undeclared could actually take
either ballot, but almost no "Undeclared" voters actually did
so yesterday, per eye-witness reports from the polling places.
By comparison, about half the people taking Democratic ballots
were previously "Undeclared".)

The deadline to switch party affiliations was the end of October
*LAST YEAR* (2003). As a result, a *LOT* of enrolled Republicans
who wanted to vote for one of the Democratic candidates on
yesterday's Democratic Ballot were denied the opportunity to
do so. As a result, some took a Republican ballot and wrote-in
a Democratic candidate. Some simply walked away disgusted.

That's how all those write-in votes for Democratic candidates
came to be on Republican ballots.

Tesha

[On the Road]

4. If They Were Registered Republican,

they couldn't have voted in the Democratic primary. Independents can vote in either primary, but party members can't switch.

So your observation holds only if they were registered as independents. It's more likely that they were registered Republicans making a protest vote against Bush. Good news.