Holly Yeager sees a silver lining in the drawn-out Democratic nomination battle:
There is good news in the prolonged battle for the nomination, too. Democratic registration rolls have swelled and voters in states that normally don't get a say in the primary process are welcoming the attention. But there is another, often overlooked, benefit of the long march to the 2008 nomination. As the contest moves from state to state, and canvassers knock on doors and make telephone calls, the campaigns are collecting valuable information about likely voters and laying essential groundwork for November. ...
Even as he frets about avoiding a dramatic showdown at the party convention this August in Denver, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, agrees that there is a big upside to the drawn-out primary contest. "I take issue with all of the hand-wringing that goes on in the 24-hour cable cycle about how the Democrats are beating each other up," Dean said. "That's a short-term problem." ...
The information -- everything from a voter's cell phone number and e-mail address to voting intentions and top issues, from newly registered Democrats and long-time voters -- is being channeled back into a central voter file organized by the Democratic National Committee. "We know where all the people we are going to have to get out in November are, now," Dean said. With John McCain's claim on the GOP nomination cemented back in February, Republicans can't say the same thing.
Read the details of the GOTV effort and comment here. Get all articles on TAP online as soon as they're published by subscribing to our articles RSS feed here.
--The Editors
