A number of years ago I worked on a well-known domestic violence project with the Women’s Bar Association is MA. It is disheartening to feel that, although we may have helped a few women, we seem to have moved backward in the cultural perceptions of violence.

Firstly, it seems despite all the hype of new voters coming out to vote, turnout in 2008 was the same as in 2004, or at best slightly higher:

A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

and then this:

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

Exit polls however showed that:

Democrats who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton during the primaries overwhelming voted for Obama in the general election, 84 percent to 15 percent for McCain.

In other words, by conservative estimates, there are close to 3 million PUMAs (2.88 million to be precise ) for that is what 16% of 18 million is. More importantly, 2.7 million put country first and actually voted for John McCain / Sarah Palin.

Let’s recap. In 2004:

George Bush: 62,040,610 (an increase of 22.96% fpr the GOP)

John Kerrey: 59,028,444 (an increas of 16.99% for the Democrats)

in 2008 with all states reporting (NC and MO haven’t finalized numbers yet, but this is with 100% of precincts in both states reporting:

Obama has 65,002,864 (an increase of 10.12% for the Democrats)

McCain has 57,143,022 (54,443,022 if the PUMA vote is removed) (a decrease of 12.25% for the GOP)

All that was required to win the popular vote for McCain was a 1% increase in the GOP vote (620,000 more votes than 2004), and the PUMA vote of 2.8 million would have put him over the top.

I guess in the final analysis, the reason Obama won the election is because he played one hell of a mind game on the GOP base, a mind game that ensured a 12% decrease in the number of votes over 2004.

this mabey be old news but i thought i was worth a 2nd look

you said it!