Obama '08?

Dem turnout stretches ballot supply in NH by Nick Juliano
Published: Tuesday January 8, 2008

New Hampshire voters were shattering turnout records Tuesday especially in the Democratic presidential primary, sending elections officials scrambling to find enough ballots to meet the demand.

"We're going to have historic turnout, there's no doubt about that," Pia Carusone, communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, told RAW STORY.

Carusone said she was unaware of details regarding reports that polling locations were running out of Democratic ballots.

Party officials were "just learning as you are about the ballots," Carusone said by phone Tuesday afternoon. "I'm just hearing about it as you are."

Phones at the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office were busy Tuesday afternoon.

CNN reported that extra ballots were being sent to several polling locations.

"The towns that are calling now are experiencing heavy turnout, and see their piles of ballots starting to drop at a rate faster than they're comfortable with," Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan told MSNBC. "They're also stating to us that it's the Democratic ballots that have them more concerned than the Republican ballots."

New Hampshire's secretary of state predicted a half-million voters would turn out Tuesday, breaking previous turnout records. It was unclear whether even that prediction would be too modest.

"We're certainly encouraged," Scanlan told MSNBC's First Read, "and if it goes beyond what the secretary predicted, that's great."

nimh wrote:

And Obama went on this theme of optimism and hope about how words DO count, they have an influence, they can get things done, by inspiring people, by bringing people around, by creating new majorities for better policies (as, the implication was, Bill Clinton didnt, Hillary couldnt, and he would).

It was at that point that I blurted out, OK, THIS is why I dont like Obama. He really seems to believe that when he is President, and he is faced with this disciplined, obstructing Republican party in Congress, with the huge corporations governing health care, with Fox News and all that, that he can just bring them round by persuading them. That if you're just a special enough person, if you just have the power to inspire and inspire confidence, if you treat them with respect and in dialogue, you can persuade them to at least co-operate. I think that is so eye-blinkingly naive.

I think I want to comment on that, but I want to figure out which part you mean, first. This part?

<snip>

EDWARDS: [..] I just want to say a quick word about this.

You know, it is true that these entrenched interests -- whether you're talking about oil companies, drug companies, gas companies, whoever, these entrenched interests are literally stealing our children's future.

They have a stranglehold on this democracy. And they are having an incredibly destructive force on the middle class, on families being able to do what my family has done, and so many who are sitting here have been able to do.

And the problem is you can't be with those people, take their money and then challenge them. It doesn't work.

You have to be willing to actually stand up and say no, no to lobbyists' money, no to PAC money, no corporate lobbyists working for me in the White House.

If you intend to take them on, and if it is personal for you -- and this is extraordinarily personal for me -- if it's personal for you, then you can be successful bringing about the change.

Teddy Roosevelt -- just one quick example -- Teddy Roosevelt -- Teddy Roosevelt, a great American president: He didn't make deals with the monopolies and the trusts. Teddy Roosevelt took them on, busted the monopolies, busted the trusts. That's what it's going to take.

We have a battle in front of us. We do.

I don't think we have a problem with politicians in Washington spending enough time with lobbyists and going to cocktail parties. They do it all the time. They do it every single day.

And I'll tell you who's paying the price for those cocktail parties: Ed and Nataline Sarkisyan, every single American who doesn't have health care coverage, everybody who's going to the gas pump and paying so much for their gas.

When are we going to have a president who actually takes these people on? That's what I'm going to do.

(CROSSTALK)

GIBSON: I'm going to go Senator Obama, and I'll come to you.

OBAMA: Look, I think it's easy to be cynical and just say, "You know what? It can't be done, because Washington is designed to resist change."

But in fact, there have been periods of time in our history where a president inspired the American people to do better.

And I think we're in one of those moments right now. I think the American people are hungry for something different and can be mobilized around big changes; not incremental changes, not small changes.

I actually give Bill Clinton enormous credit for having balanced those budgets during those years. It did take political courage for him to do that.

But we never built the majority and coalesced the American people around being able to get the other stuff done.

And, you know, so, the truth is, actually, words do inspire, words do help people get involved, words do help members of Congress get into power so that they can be part of a coalition to deliver health-care reform, to deliver a bold energy policy.

Don't discount that power.

I know there are some of my worthy opponents who will say, "Well, Obama's right about change but we need the anger and hotter rhetoric and not negotiating . . . you can't compromise with these folks. We can just beat them."

Listen, I understand the source of anger. The insurance companies, the drug companies, they do not want to relinquish their power. Oil companies, they're happy with the status quo. Folks in Washington, the insiders, they don't want the outsiders, of course they're going to resist change.

But when I talk about reaching out to people, it's based on this understanding: that if you know who you are, if you know what you believe, if you know what you care about, if you know who you're fighting for, those are principles that cannot be compromised. And you can afford to reach out across the aisle. . . .

And some folks won't listen and some folks won't want to cooperate . . . but here's the thing. If you start off with an agreeable attitude, then you might be able to pick off some folks, you might be able to recruit the independents into the fold. . . . That's how you get a working majority for change. . . . That's the politics of addition, not the politics of division.

And if you've got a working majority, if the American people are behind you, then you can fear no man. You can walk into a room with a sunny disposition, you can smile and say "Yes sir," "No sir," "Yes maam," and "No maam," and if they don't agree with you, you've got the votes, and you will beat them. And you can do it with a smile on your face. . . . We are happy warriors for change.

Latest results coming into Boston right now:

Hillary 38% of the vote

Obama 36% of the vote


Tight race...

As I remember it, CNN had already projected Huckabee winner in Iowa with less than 10% of the precincts in. Or did I see that wrong?