Hello P.A. Registered to Vote?

March 24th is the deadline to switch party affiliation in PA.

If you would like to vote for Obama or Clinton you must be registered as a democrat by March 24.
You may do this at the DMV, Town or City Hall , Library, Schools and many other public or municipal buildings. As soon as possible, as in, dont play WoW today, just get back in your car and go out and re-register.  Many people are concerned about their party affiliation. I used to worry about it too. "Im not a democrat, Im no republican either. To hell with their check-boxes" Well all you do is stiffle yourself, which ive learned.  Switch affiliations every year if you want, it doesnt matter, just check the box and sign your name and make the best decision for yourself at the time.

For everyone who always thought 'my vote is one of millions' well this contest is being decided by a few dozen votes at times and will mean significant differences in the near future. Lets make the LARPer demographic a force to be reckoned with.

-Craig

You don't even have to go anywhere to do it, actually. I provide the following information at the risk that some numbnuts will use it to vote for Clinton, but what the hell...

www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us/Pages/Vo...tionApplication.aspx

You have to create a "SURE Portal" account in order to use it, but that only takes a minute or two. When you're done, it will transmit the form to your county's voter registration office, and provide you with a pdf that it has populated with your answers. You just need to print it, sign it, and mail it. It must be postmarked by March 24th, as Craig said.

I know that there are at least a few KR players who are pretty excited about this coming election and I know that I personally would love to go to an Obama campaign rally when he starts campaigning here over the next 6 weeks.

I'm on his websites mailing list, so I'm hoping that will notify me when Obama is set to make an appearance in my area. And as soon as I find out about any campaign rally's in the Philly area, I'll let anyone who is interested know about it. But if anyone finds out about a Philly-area rally before I do, please let me know!

Does anyone no what the deadline to vote in PA for the upcoming election even if you are already a registered democrat? As I will be changing my address over the next week or so.

lawlz Democrats.

In all seriousness, everyone should ensure that they are registered and/or change your 'official' affiliation.  Even the 2 or 3 of us Republicans out here.  After all, John McCain has the republican nomination in the bag, might as well do some good and make sure Obama wins on the other side.

Gavin. You rock.

Nice Rob, didnt you two make out?

-andy

If I switch my party, it would be to vote for the worst Dem candidate  

Wow Roy, you'd vote for Dennis Kucinich?
But I guess you cant because it looks like he got abducted by aliens.... again.

-andy

is nader running again? I wanna be useless once more

is nader running again? I wanna be useless once more

Tim this is for you and anyone else who gets their news from webcomics, as I believe you said you did in another thread.

blag.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/

XKCDs author supports Obama.

Yes Nadar is in mfact running again.

He announced while guest-starring on the daily show a couple of weeks ago.

It is sad because he makes some very valid points on the two national parties monopolizing the elections. But you listen to him talk and realize how removed he really is.

Nader actually has a few good points outside of the two party system criticisms.  The problem is, most of his other points are crap.

Why am I not suprised Roy is a Republican.

Roy is lawful good in real life.

I'm on his websites mailing list, so I'm hoping that will notify me when Obama is set to make an appearance in my area. And as soon as I find out about any campaign rally's in the Philly area, I'll let anyone who is interested know about it. But if anyone finds out about a Philly-area rally before I do, please let me know!

They will tell you where and when the rally is. I got emailed when they had one in Jersey.

A McCain vs Obama election would be kinda of a pipe dream coming true. I remember when McCain lost to Bush first time around, I was so upset I stopped watching the debates and following the election.

Nader does have some good points, but so does Ron Paul. Seriously check out Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke youtube.com/watch?v=gldETRlhiXk Ron Paul is great with economics.

my entire senior class voted for nader back in 2000, i really thought with all the adverts they were doing to push teenagers to vote, that another party might finally have a chance... the fact that bush won made it worse

My republican friends all changed their registration and are voting for Clinton s they see her as McCains best chance to win.  I was a republican for two decades (it never stopped me from voting for democrats, but in Bucks you had to be a republican to get elected.  About 8 years ago, the Republican party told me in so many words to leave.  Barry Goldwater could not get nominated for senator today.

If I switch my party, it would be to vote for the worst Dem candidate  

The problem is, both Dem candidates have strong followings.  I'd rather help ensure Obama's nomination.  That way, even though I will probably vote for McCain, if the Democrat nominee wins, I won't feel the sudden urge to leave the country.

It's bad enough that when I move she's my freaking senator.

Yes, Clinton holds the carpetbagger NY senate seat.  Robert Kennedy, Danial Moynihan, and Hillary Clinton have  that in common. 

My vote is going to Obama.

Charlie, what your friends are doing is just one more example of why the Republican party is morally, ethically, and idealistically bankrupt. This from a former Republican.

The right to vote is your voice in the governance of this country and should not be used as a cynical tool to disrupt the opportunity for other Americans to express their wishes.

And I would tell your friends to be careful what they wish for. Despite the polling, McCain's only chance is against Obama, because a campaign between the two of them is likely to remain focused on the issues. The Clintons will destroy McCain with every bit of dirt they can find, plus a healthy dose of dirt that they can't find but will insinuate. Furthermore, McCain will need the votes of independents to win because he will not enjoy huge support from the Evangelical right. The campaign that will be waged by Clinton will digust independent voters - because they will do it on purpose to suppress that vote - and they will stay home in droves rather than support either candidate in an ugly brawl.

McCain will not survive that campaign (figuratively, no age/health smear intended), and your Republican friends will go to bed on election night and try to sleep knowing that they're the reason we're going to have four more years of Clinton pathology in the White House.

you rock

Ive lived in a state with Clinton in the senate and shes done nothing spectacular, nothing even noteworthy and the state is even more bankrupt than when she came into office. She is also the only senator NY state has ever had that has not responded to one of my handwritten letters. Sometimes it takes a month, sometimes four months but Ive always gotten a response.

Furthermore, Schumer has been to my town,more than once, just to discuss the faltering economy. (Mostly due to the influx of a huge amount of people who work in NYC and purchase new large homes, driving up taxes while at the same time not putting any money back into the local economy because they all shop at home depot and walmart. among many other things that will take too long to name) I know he has been elsewhere in the state to try and do some 'ground up' repairs. So good on him. I think you need to offer caviar and champagne if you want Clinton to show her face where you live.

Clinton buttered everyone up real nice and all she did was use NY as a stepping stone to a presidential opportunity.  She got a bunch of the states delegates right off the bat because everyone I can name who wanted to vote for Obama were all misregistered as independent or republican or anything but democrat basically. Its an archaic system that needs to be axed. The contest in NY should have been much closer if not the other way around, and the delegates from NY are all thats keeping Clinton alive in this drawn out battle.

Clinton wont win in the long run, she has no momentum and , even if it goes her way in PA it will be so close that it wont give her enough delegates to close the gap. And every other state on the board isn't even going to consider Clinton. If she does win by some tiny margin, voters like Charlies friends can feel free to catch my spit.

I hate the primary system and agree it should go.

Clinton has always seemed like a scoundrel and thief (not making any specific references, just how I perceive her when she speaks). The problem with both parties is the machine aspect as I think of it. Choose a charismatic leader, get the popular vote and elect a candidate who benefits the party rather than progresses the nation with much needed reforms. Additionally can any of these politicians have an accurate understanding of what the rest of the country is going through when they never have to worry about money. It seems we continually elect millionaires. Citing NJ governor Corzine the man who wants to cut state funding to colleges, and eliminate the department of agriculture. The garden state with no department of agriculture. Brilliant Plan.

When was the last time we had a presidential candidate who at any point in their life wondered what was going to be for dinner because they had no food and no money. 

Bear in mind that the primary system is determined by each political party, as is their right. There is no constitutional control over the process because it isn't an election. In the 19th century the parties just selected a candidate from among their own inner circle without doing any kind of voting - imagine just the superdelegates getting together at a closed-door meeting and sorting out the nominee.

As far as millionaires running for office, you generally have to be wealthy to be able to put your career on hold and make an attempt at Congress. Obama is not very wealthy. I don't know about McCain. The Clintons are very rich now, but were not when Bill Clinton became president.

Finally, just because it doesn't seem likely that Clinton will catch Obama in the delegate or popular vote count doesn't mean that she won't find a way to get the nomination. Losing Pennsylvania doesn't seem like a big deal if you look purely at the delegate math, but it's much bigger when you consider how it could bolster her claims to be the nominee more likely to succeed because of her victories in big battleground states.

Of course, the trap for Obama is that if he fights too hard in PA and loses, he will have imbued the contest with the kind of importance he'd rather it not have. He has a fine line to walk, between trying to win it in the hope of finally knocking her campaign down for the count, but not lending so much gravity to the contest that if Clinton wins it, she can use his own effort as proof that her victory is deeply important.

Matt is exactly right on both points, the first being Clinton beating McCain, But I think an election between Obama and McCain will be a sight to see, and will hoefully raise the level of debate in this country. While I am a democrat and like Obama, I think McCain makes some great points, and I was upset when he got beat out by bush in the last election, and personally would ove to see a real debate between the two.

On the second point. It is a very fine line for Obama - He needs to campaign but not make it a I need to win battle. For Clinton she is once again against the wall...It will be this way the rest of the way for her. Before Texas she was actually quoted on discussing the vice presidency...but that is a whole other can of worms entirely relating to the pros and the CONS.

In the end it is going to be difficult for Obama in PA mainly because the of the fine line Matt was discussing. The media is already starting to discuss this same point. Therefore Obama will not only have to decide how to campaign, but with what ever choice he makes, he will need to mask it from the juggernaut  that is the media. And from what we have seen recently, be it stress or be it exhaustion from the campaign, he has made some PR mistakes that have allowed Clinto to generate some momentum...

Obama can win in the south, as the ethnic demographics favor him (there are more black people who will come out and vote for a black candidate than white folk who will vote against a black candidate).  This will reverse a decade of Republican sweeps.  His negatives are less than Clinton's.

McCain has the support of right wing idealogues (witness Rick Santorum's latest op-ed piece in the Phila Inquirer), but will not ignite the Christian Taliban extreme wing.  While they will not vote for either democratic candidate, they might stay home, not realizing that the 2/3 a loaf represented b y McCain is better than going hungry.

The need to win in Pa (and most states) for a democratic candidate is not as great as for the republican candidates, due to the winner takes all of the latter and the splitting of delagates among the former, based in percentage of votes received.    The real issue is the super delagates. 

but will not ignite the Christian Taliban extreme wing 

I am an athiest, and I am not personally offended by that statement Charlie, but someone else reading the boards might be. It is statements like that that are the reason why we are not supposed to discuss politics and religion on the boards.

Christian Taliban is a specific term, not directed against Christians, but only those who, like the Taliban, believe that their particular interpretation of the religion (and natuarally, the only correct one) should be law.  Literalists if you would like a further label.  Those whom I call friends include many who are Christians, without beingidealogues intent on forcing me to compply to their particular belief system.

Taliban is a handy label, as a few in this nation understand what their politics and agenda is.