Pennsylvanians
are rushing in record numbers to sign up as Democrats so
they can vote in the April 22 presidential primary between
Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Many are lured by
the historic drama of two U.S. senators vying to be the
first black or female president. But the two campaigns also
are busily recruiting independents, disgruntled
Republicans and those who weren't previously
registered at all.
Obama's effort
has generated the most fanfare as his campaign has laid
down a steady drumbeat of radio ads and e-mails leading up
to the deadline for switching or joining parties.
''For real
change, register as a Democrat by Monday, March 24,'' advise
Obama ads airing throughout the state.
Only registered
Democrats can vote for their party's candidates in the
state's April 22 primary, and Obama is hoping the recruits
will help him overcome Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's
solid lead -- 12 points in one poll taken last
weekend. At stake are 158 delegates to this summer's
Democratic national convention -- the biggest single-state
bloc of delegates still to be awarded. Only registered
Republicans can vote in the GOP primary.
Since last fall's
election, statewide Democratic enrollment has swelled
by more than 111,000 -- an increase of about 3% in less than
six months that state elections Commissioner Harry
VanSickle said is apparently unprecedented. With days
to go, Democratic registration is barely 5,000 votes
shy of a record 4 million.
''The volume is
very large, very steady,'' said Jim Forsythe, director of
voter services in Chester County, a Philadelphia suburb
where Democratic enrollment grew by nearly 7% -- the
second-largest gain among the state's 67 counties.
The smaller
statewide enrollments of Republicans and voters not
registered in either party have both declined slightly.
Neither the Obama
nor Clinton campaigns will offer a public estimate of
how much they contributed to the increased registration, and
certainly other factors are at work.
But hundreds of
Obama volunteers have stepped up their voter registration
efforts in recent weeks on the streets, on college campuses
and in nightly telephone canvassing among the nearly 1
million registered independent voters. In earlier
Democratic primaries where independents could vote,
Obama has outpolled Clinton, 54% to 40%, according to exit
polls.
The Clinton
campaign has also mounted a major registration effort in
Pennsylvania, the first time in the primary season it has
done so. While the former first lady has drawn most of
her support in other states from traditional
Democratic ''base'' voters, her aides believe she is
positioned strongly enough in Pennsylvania to draw a
significant number of independents, especially
independent women.
The Clinton
campaign is using extensive phone banks to identify likely
switchers, targeting voters ''who fit the profile''' of the
New York senator's supporters and sending them
registration applications upon request, said campaign
spokesman Mark Nevins.
While all of
Obama's ads urge non-Democrats to join the Democratic Party,
he is using some regional targeting as well. The ad in the
Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas is tailored to young
voters, mentioning Obama's opposition to the Iraq war
and his plan to help loan-burdened college students.
In the Philadelphia area, Obama's ad specifically talks to
Republicans and independents unhappy with the country's
direction and then recounts Obama's role in passing
ethical reforms.
An Obama
supporter, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records,
announced a ''Hip-Hop Team Vote: Turn up the Vote'' campaign
at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday that he
hopes will register 15,000 to 20,000 voters before
Monday. The group plans to use public service
announcements from hip-hop recording artists and actors,
including Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean and Will Smith.
Heightened
interest in the Democratic contest and disenchantment with
the Bush administration have likely spurred many
Pennsylvanians to join the party on their own. More
than a few Republicans have switched sides -- at least
for the primary.
At a makeshift
registration center that Obama volunteers set up on a
sidewalk recently in this affluent Philadelphia suburb, one
woman boasted that she and five friends -- like her,
all Republicans -- had simultaneously changed their
registrations to Democratic to vote for Obama, who she
called ''a fresh face'' in politics.
''I do feel he's
honest. I think he's hard-working, and I think he can
understand what the people are going through,'' said Linda
Lemmon of Kennett Square.
But asked whether
she would remain a Democrat through the general
election, she replied, ''I can't say that.''
Mining the
state's computerized voter registry for trends, the
Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections,
has found that:
- Since
January, more than 100,000 Pennsylvanians who were not
previously registered to vote did so.
- In that
time, more than 68,000 registered voters changed their
affiliation to one of the major parties, with those
switching to Democratic registration outpacing those
turning Republican by more than 3-1.
- The nine
counties with the biggest percentage increases in Democratic
enrollment since last fall -- more than 5%-- are mainly in
two tightly contested areas - the Philadelphia
suburbs and the state's vast central region. Despite
the changes, Republicans still outnumber Democrats in all
those counties.
One man who
registered to vote for the first time at the Obama station
here in Wayne was Tzvetan Tzonev, a newly naturalized
citizen from Bulgaria.
But Tzonev said
Clinton will get his vote, because Bill Clinton was
president when he first arrived in this country and times
were better then.
''It was a
fantastic time,'' Tzonev said. ''We thought maybe she will
kind of continue this period of time, and we'll be out of
all this mess.''
One woman who
stopped at the Obama table was Nina D'Iorio, already
registered as a Democrat. She was carrying a bag of books
including two by Obama.
D'Iorio said she
was leaning toward him and wanted to learn more about
him. While she longs to ''see a strong, powerful woman
thrive'' as president, she worries that former
President Clinton might hold his wife back.
Obama, she said,
has ''that JFK feel.'' (Peter Jackson, AP)
