haven new university

More than half a million people have registered to vote or switched registrations this year to get their say in upcoming Democratic primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Indiana - the latest indication of heavy voter interest and enthusiasm in the 2008 presidential campaign.
As the nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stretches through the spring, the three states are suddenly at the epicenter of a race that many predicted would be resolved by now. Pennsylvania votes a week from Tuesday; North Carolina and Indiana head to the polls on May 6.
Registrations in all three states - which are competitive between the two senators - have surged this year as it has become clear that voters in those states may well determine the Democratic nominee.
“There’s more interest in the primary among the citizens here than any time in the last 40 years,” said Edward Carmines, a political scientist at Indiana University.
The spike in voter activity reflects a defining trend of this election.
Voter turnout in one Democratic contest after another has smashed records and far surpassed Republican numbers, even though they, too, reached all-time highs in some states. And a significant number of Republicans have changed their registrations so they can vote in the Democratic race.
Obama makes the case that he is attracting droves of new voters - an argument backed by exit polls - and that positions him as the stronger Democratic candidate in November.
The tremendous interest among Democratic voters in this year’s race - driven by the historic duel between Obama and Clinton and urgency among the rank-and-file to retake the White House - has been apparent from the first vote, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, which drew a record 236,000 Democratic voters. That is about double the number that participated in 2004.

boston.com


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