One of the reasons that Dems are hoping for a landslide next week is the structural shift that followed their lengthy primary.<\/p>\n
Democrats were already scrambling to register more voters, but Barack Obama’s campaign kicked it into high gear, signing up tens of thousands of new voters. <\/p>\n
Because the endless primary was fought on non-traditional ground (for Democrats), that meant Obama had to build an infrastructure in places where none existed before.<\/p>\n
That means hundreds of new campaign offices, voter registration drives, mailing lists — all the nuts and bolts of winning ground-game elections. <\/p>\n
Obama’s effort linked up more or less seamlessly with the “50-state” campaign launched by Howard Dean four years ago. <\/p>\n
And it meshed with the Democratic Congressional Committee’s efforts to recruit more “red-state friendly” candidates.<\/p>\n
In many of those same districts, Republicans had become complacent. They were so used to winning handily that they allowed their own political infrastructure was in disrepair. <\/p>\n
If Obama’s numbers are strong on Tuesday, it could be all over for dozens of Republicans — especially in states that allow “straight-party” voting. This from The Hill newspaper:<\/p>\n
[V]oters are allowed to save time and vote for every Democrat (or Republican) on the ballot with a single mark of the ballot. Straight-party voting is allowed in several states where Obama has poured in money and campaign workers: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Some pundits are stretching to imagine that as many as 40 Republicans could lose their seats. <\/p>\n
If that happens — and if Dems reach a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate — Barack Obama will have more power on Day One than any other president in the last century.<\/p>\n
We’ll see on Tuesday if his coattails are that long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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