Patterico's Pontifications

3/26/2008

Hillary Clinton Has Limbaugh To Thank

Filed under: Politics — Justin Levine @ 3:31 pm



[posted by Justin Levine]

As you probably already know, Rush Limbaugh has been uging Republicans to register as Democrats in order to vote for Hillary to keep the Democratic turmoil going.

In this Time Magazine interview, Hillary essentially concedes that Limbaugh’s plan is working, and that she is grateful for it –

You know, there was a big surge in registration here in Pennsylvania. That seems to be happening in other states that are in the upcoming contests. Millions of people still remain to vote and to have their votes counted, so I think it’s exciting and I find it very positive for our party. We’re going to bring a lot of people into this race. Yesterday in Montgomery County I probably had six women tell me that they had changed their registration from Republican to Democrat to be able to vote for me, and I’m sure people are doing things to get prepared to vote for Senator Obama.

 

23 Responses to “Hillary Clinton Has Limbaugh To Thank”

  1. I’m sure people are doing things to get prepared to vote for Senator Obama.

    Yep, no doubt all those African-Americans, college kids, and college professors are changing their registration from GOP to Democrat so they can vote for Obama.

    JVW (2117c1)

  2. “The Limbaugh effect” had, at best, a marginal effect at the voting booth (Hillary’s performance in Ohio and Texas was in the range of what she was polling right before the Primaries). The “Limbaugh effect” is really about two things: #1) discrediting open primaries, so that no future John McCains will ever survive the Republican nomination process again; and #2) drawing attention to Rush Limbaugh. By those standards the “Limbaugh effect has been tremendous.

    Sean P (e57269)

  3. Sean P, this site shows which states have open, closed, or mixed primaries. Based upon this list it would be difficult to conclude that open primaries were much of a driving force to McCain’s victory. He did pretty darn well in the states that are closed too.

    JVW (2117c1)

  4. Of course, the six ladies could also have been changing their party registration because they are totally p***ed off at the GOP and have no intention of ever again voting for a Republican candidate for President.

    Or maybe Hillary’s faulty memory is acting up again and that rather than 6 GOP ladies who were going to vote for her, it was 3 Democrats telling her they would rather vote for McCain than ever vote for her.

    stevesturm (8caabf)

  5. The sad thing is that 1) Hillary probably thinks these women actually supported her, and that it wasn’t part of the Limbaugh effect; and 2)probably some women did vote for Hillary so they could say they voted for a woman.

    kishnevi (db1823)

  6. Operation chaos. … Love it.

    bill-tb (26027c)

  7. On March 19, Rush Limbaugh quoted David Shuster for the claim that Operation Chaos was the difference in Texas:

    “That’s when the Clinton campaign launched its kitchen sink strategy and Limbaugh launched his vote-for-Hillary strategy. Did it work? Approximately 119,000 Texas Republicans voted for her in a state where Clinton’s margin of overall victory over Obama was about 101,000. In other words, Republicans helped turn a virtual draw into a slight Clinton victory.”

    Unfortunately, perhaps 1,000 of those votes (from Harris County alone) seem to have been double votes.

    DRJ (a431ca)

  8. JVW #3: I guess I wasn’t clear on my point. I’m not trying to say McCain would never have one the nomination without open primaries (although it would have complicated his campaign), my point is that Limbaugh believes he never would have done so.

    Sean P (e57269)

  9. Could someone please clarify if it is possible for Limbaugh to be brought up on charges of encouraging voters to vote under false pretenses and could the voters themselves be charged since they signed required affidavits in order to change party and vote? Does election engineering come in to play (RICO) or just voter fraud? Is this something that the Ohio AG’s office would consider pursuing? I heard a senator and some newspundit last week on the radio discuss this and the senator (can’t remember who but a Dem) was ardent in their support of this being pursued.

    Dana (fba430)

  10. Sounds like Harris County is trying out for a Florida election.

    Seriously, if I understand what the commenters on that thread were saying, that situation would never happen in Florida. For one thing, to vote in a primary, you have to register for the new party at least two months ahead of time, and you’ll get a card with the new party indicated. You also have to present some form of photo ID, and sign the voting roll. And if you vote early or by absentee ballot, the voting roll will have that down so the precinct worker will know you already voted. To double vote would require the actual connivance of an election worker.
    (Of course that doesn’t rule out double voting in two different jurisdictions or precincts.) That’s why the problems in Florida were with what people did in the voting booth, not what they did with the voting roll.

    kishnevi (a6ffde)

  11. Dana–doubtful, unless you have someone actually trying to vote in both Dem and Repub primaries.
    And last I heard, “Register as a Democrat and vote for Clinton” is not a crime: motive of Limbaugh, of the voter, and Clinton’s own criminality are not relevant. If Republican officials actively organized such an effort, there might be something criminal in that, but I don’t think any Republican official would be feel the need to be part of it.

    kishnevi (a6ffde)

  12. #9 – if so the clinton campaign and daily kos will have to be charged also. obama’s people might have encouraged repubs to vote for him also but i dont remember hearing about it. kos encouraged dems in mich to switch but dont remember who he pushed for them to vote for but it was to try and confuse the picture in the repub primary.

    and i voted for hill down here in texas.

    chas (68d8c2)

  13. JVW – the entire key to McCain’s candidacy was New Hampshire. He had zero cash beyond S. Carolina. A third in NH and JM was done.

    Romney needed the credibility/legitimacy of a win in NH to get the voters in the South (especially Florida) to think in hard terms about the GOP candidate. I am convinced that had he won NH, FL would have been much tighter, if not a win for MR.

    McCain may have won NH without the crossovers. We’ll never know. But I find it inherently ludicrous that the parties in so many states allow open primary voting at all. The point of a primary is to determine a partisan nominee. The fact that Texas was polluted with DFAD (Democrats for a day) is a warning shot for future generations. Would HRC be dead today without those 100K DFAD votes? Her hubby sure thought so.

    Ed (4d72af)

  14. Who’s kidding who?

    Loyalty oaths? Where is in the Constitution when one is voting in a primary or a caucus?

    The Libtards are having a real hissy fit over this Operation Chaos…:-)

    juandos (c8c2d1)

  15. The people who complain about cross-voting seriously annoy me. If the states that allow it didn’t intend to encourage strategic cross-voting then they are full of idiots. This is not an unintended consequence. Many Dems voted for McCain back in 2000. If you find the practice distasteful (I do), change the stupid laws that allow (encourage) it. Don’t whine about it as if it is some strange new phenomena. I’m shocked, shocked that there is strategic cross voting going on!

    Pennsylvania thankfully does not allow cross-voting. If people want to change their party before an election, so be it. I don’t believe firm Republicans would do it in significant numbers. Many of those suburban Montco Republican women would vote for Hillary in the general election anyway (I grew up there). I don’t think Hillary meant to credit Rush for it, I think that notion is a Rush fantasy.

    Amphipolis (fdbc48)

  16. I live in Pennsylvania, and I changed my registration from Republican to Democrat, specifically to vote against Hillary Clinton.

    I don’t want either Democrat to win, but if the economy is seen as getting worse, it might be that John McCain simply cannot win. In that case, while I’d dislike having Barack Hussein Obama as president, I’d absolutely despise having Hilla . . . no, I can’t even write it, the thought is so vile.

    If it were a choice between Hillary Clinton and Satan, I’d have to give the devil his due.

    Dana (3e4784)

  17. Amphipolis wrote:

    I don’t believe firm Republicans would do it in significant numbers.

    We can’t know how many of them were “firm Republicans,” like I am, but as of last Friday over 57,000 Pennsylvanians had switched from Republican to Democrat for this primary. I think that counts as a significant number.

    Dana (3e4784)

  18. Rush Limbaugh’s strategery in this election follows the conventional wisdom, but it’s my belief that Mr Obama would be easier to defeat in November than Mrs Clinton, and yes, it is precisely because he’s black. And if Mrs Clinton does win the nomination, and possibly the presidency, Mr Limbaugh might well have himself to thank for that.

    James Bond killed Dr No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld because the bad guys toyed with him rather than putting a bullet in his head when they had the chance; toying with the Hildabeast instead of slaying her politically when we have the chance is foolish.

    Dana (3e4784)

  19. Dana:

    We will never know, but my point was that I think the ones who are firm Republicans are not a significant number of the total, and that Hillary was referring to former Republicans who actually support her. I could easily see liberal Republicans in the burbs switching parties because Hillary is running, she being a woman and all.

    Has anyone reported how many party switches happened in PA just before the last few presidential primaries? That would provide some perspective, so it probably won’t be mentioned.

    Amphipolis (fdbc48)

  20. I don’t know which one would be easier to defeat. People will vote against Obama because he’s black, others will vote for him because he’s black. Ditto for Hillary’s womanhood. And a lot will happen between now and November, including VP choices.

    Their present issues with the Democrats will be largely forgotten. They will be dismissed as irrelevant old news. The final contest will probably have more to do with the media’s portrayal of the economy and the war, which does not bode well.

    Amphipolis (fdbc48)

  21. So when is Senator Clinton going to announce Loretta Sanchez as her pick for VP running-mate ?

    Alasdair (0c1945)

  22. Amphipolis: This is the first time since 1976 that Pennsylvania’s presidential primary has had any significance, so there’s really no answer to your question.

    Dana (d671ab)

  23. There was no reason until now for rinos to change their party. Thus the big numbers.

    Numbers mean nothing without context.

    Amphipolis (fdbc48)


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