Dems winning the registration fight

As the campaigns slouch into mid-October, one factor is emerging that could shake up the entire race: voter registration.

Everyone talks about the damaged Republican brand and possible GOP-voter apathy. John McCain seems to have solidified his base nicely with the Sarah Palin veep pick.

But still looming is the massive effort to recruit and register new Democrats. This line jumped out at me from a Washington Post story this weekend:

Recent polls showed Obama forging a clear lead in [Pennsylvania], and Obama advisers think they will benefit from the surge in Democratic registration there this year. There are now about 1.1 million more Democrats registered in the state than Republicans.

Even when you guess that most of those newcomers won’t actually vote — maybe the vast majority won’t actually vote — the impact is potentially huge.

When you look at below-the-fold details like this one, you see how much grassroots rebuilding the Republican Party has ahead.

The good news for the GOP is that the Democrats were in a similar spot just a few short years ago. When the pendulum swings, it can swing fast.