Yesterday, a crowd of nearly 2,500 people joined together in Hamden, Connecticut to begin organizing for change. Though much of the media attention has been focused on two dozen or so battleground states, volunteers in Connecticut showed their energy and enthusiasm, as well as their determination to make an impact on the outcome in November.
In addition to speeches from Senator Chris Dodd and other state Democratic officials, the rally saw almost 800 new volunteers sign up to help with voter registration, phonebanking, and canvassing, including trips to Pennsylvania and New Hampshire as part of the Drive for Change campaign.
The event's success also gained some attention from the local newspaper. The New Haven Registar reported today:
“It was a great turnout,” said Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee Chairman Joseph McDonagh, who added that the crowd packed the auditorium and overflowed into the cafeteria and outside....Nancy DiNardo, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, emceed the event. After a warm welcome and standing ovation from the crowd, DeLauro reiterated emphasis on Democratic platform themes: ending the war in Iraq, making the country energy independent, improving the economy and creating universal health care.“When we elect Barack Obama, we will have the opportunity to put the middle-class first,” she said. Blumenthal echoed the economy theme in his speech and called out Republicans on their new message of change. He said: “There was a lot of talk about change at the Republican convention, but there wasn’t a lot of talk about the middle class. What we have seen over the last eight years is a contempt for the middle class.”...Mike Patrikios of Milford said Republicans have let the country down. “I think this country is in very bad shape,” he said, “and we need change. Obama has the charisma and leadership to bring about that change.”
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Democrats post big gains in voter registration . . . The epic nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton helped put millions more Democrats on the voter rolls while Republican registration declined. . . . . . Since the last federal election in 2006, volunteers like Graham combined with the enthusiasm generated by the Obama-Clinton struggle to add more than 2 million Democrats to voter rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states. . . . Both Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain, are fighting for independent swing voters, and many of the new Democrats had been unaffiliated voters. The number of unaffiliated voters dropped by nearly 900,000 since 2006. Many joined the Democratic Party to take part in the primaries and caucuses, and now they will now be targeted by an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign. . . . Nationwide, there are about 42 million registered Democrats and about 31 million Republicans, according to statistics compiled by The Associated Press. The Democrats have posted big gains in many competitive states, including Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Florida. They have also been targeting historically Republican southern states. Since 2006, the Democrats have added 167,000 voters in North Carolina, while the Republicans have added 36,000. The Democrats' biggest voter registration goal is in Georgia, where the Obama campaign hopes to register 500,000 voters before the election, said Dean, who has spent the past month traveling the country on a voter registration bus tour. . . . In Pennsylvania, the Democrats have added 375,000 voters since 2006 while the Republicans have lost 117,000. . . .
