Voter turnout

[Kathi OD]

Didn't set a record, because the Republicans either stayed home or left blank the presidential section of their ballot!

Not sure about anyone else, but this truly surprises me.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/11/14/voter_turnout_didnt_set_record/

 

[ConcKahuna]

It does match pretty well with that article someone posted about how many McCain supporters were frustrated over the election, yet many Obama supporters were excited. I think many republicans were so frustrated they just stayed home.

 

[LivelyLissa]

Well, the message this sends to the Republican Party was that moving to the center doesn't work.

In an unwinnable year, the Republicans nominated a centrist candidate (RINO) in the hopes of counteracting the animosity against the party. It not only didn't work, it suppressed the base. By suppressing the base, the bloodshed spread to the Senate races as well. I think you're going to see a hard shift right in the Republican Party to accompany the hard shift left the Democrats are going to have to take to pay off their base.

Unfortunately, for those of us in the middle, it means no one who speaks our language again.

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

Well, the message this sends to the Republican Party was that moving to the center doesn't work.

In an unwinnable year, the Republicans nominated a centrist candidate (RINO) in the hopes of counteracting the animosity against the party. It not only didn't work, it suppressed the base. By suppressing the base, the bloodshed spread to the Senate races as well. I think you're going to see a hard shift right in the Republican Party to accompany the hard shift left the Democrats are going to have to take to pay off their base.

Unfortunately, for those of us in the middle, it means no one who speaks our language again.

I think it is because they chose a VP candidate so far right that she almost fell off the edge that turned off all the centrist and independents like me that would have voted for McCain.

McCain would have fared so much better with a different VP pick.

But I think it had way more to do with "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" and the 78% disapproval rate of the current president that did McCain in rather than him being to centered.

Obama and the democrats learned a lesson with Clinton when he leaned too far left in his first two years when they got slammed in the election. Obama won't make that mistake. And with Hillary as secretary of state, she will remind him

 

[LargoLori]

I think it is because they chose a VP candidate so far right that she almost fell off the edge that turned off all the centrist and independents like me that would have voted for McCain.

McCain would have fared so much better with a different VP pick.

But I think it had way more to do with "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" and the 78% disapproval rate of the current president that did McCain in rather than him being to centered.

Obama and the democrats learned a lesson with Clinton when he leaned too far left in his first two years when they got slammed in the election. Obama won't make that mistake. And with Hillary as secretary of state, she will remind him

I don't think it was the VP at all. I think it was McCain. For Republican's he is not conservative enough.

 

[John Smith1]

Didn't set a record, because the Republicans either stayed home or left blank the presidential section of their ballot!

Not sure about anyone else, but this truly surprises me.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/11/14/voter_turnout_didnt_set_record/

Doesn't surprise me at all. This was the first campaign since 1992 that the Dems felt they had a viable candidate that they felt drawn to. I can't speak for everyone but Al Gore and Kerry were both very boring and uncharismatic, Obama had that IT factor that made people want him to win.

McCain was another Gore or Kerry kind of candidate. People were voting more against the Dem candidate than FOR their candidate. This obliterates the urge to fight.

And Sarah Palin... what the blank was up with THAT?

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Hopefully if an equal combination of right and left are elected in 10 the debate will end them compromising into the middle.