Hillary, Obama Tie in NH Republican Write-in Support

Despite the much advertised ability of Obama to secure a crossover Republican vote, in at least one common New Hampshire primary crossover metric he did not do significantly better than Hillary Clinton.

The New Hampshire Secretary of State's office has released the tabulation of write-in votes on Republican ballots. Since registered Republicans were not allowed to pull a Democratic ballot for the primary, many wishing to vote for a Democratic candidate were only able to do so by writing in that candidate's name -- with some interesting results.

The results of the write-in tabulation for the Democratic candidates on Republican ballots are as follows:

Obama: 1,800
Clinton: 1,743
Edwards: 696
Ruchardson: 191
Kucinich: 13

The Republican primary is a separate contest, and the write-ins have no effect on the Democratic nomination. However, they may serve as an indicator of what disenfranchised Republicans may find appealing in a candidate. The near tie is surprising in light of charges that Hillary has less crossover appeal than Obama.

The total number of Republicans writing in Democratic candidates this time around was also considered extraordinary: at 4,443 it represents a significant chunk of the vote of this swing state. To give a sense of scale, in 2004, Kerry beat Bush here by a little over 9,000 votes.

Approximately 2,200 Democrats wrote in Republican candidates, with clear favorite being John McCain.

More tallies and discussion are available at Blue Hampshire.

Comments

[sky2evan]

Unwise to predict Republican cross-over appeal based on 4,000 noncountable, protest votes, when the total votes for Republicans was 235,000.

Voters did have the opportunity to re-register party affiliation, and those that did - obviously did, and of course, their influence does not show up in your analysis.

[thomdavis1]

What is most important about this story is that 4,443 repubs wrote in a dem candiate, and only 2,200 dems wrote in a repub---it says quite a bit more than WHO earned the most votes!

[Evolin]

It seems strange that most times a picture is presented that Obama is in an elevated pose above others.
I guess a message is being sent for the impressionable

[SensibleCentrist]

The Republicans are dying to run against Hillary. I would attribute crossover vote to that.
I have met many moderate Republicans who say they would vote for Obama, but never for Hillary.
You simply have two different things going on here.

[janmB]

The public will have to decide if they want a motivated black speaker who has not really accomplished much at all or an experienced woman who has a resume yards long.
We had 8 years of real prosperity under Clinton who was a genius and then the public decided they didn't like that so voted for a dumbo who has destroyed our economy--got us into a never ending war and there are MORE terrorist now then there were before we spent 500 billion dollars.

[Dalpine]

Fortunately or unfortunately the race issue is not nearly as toxic and divisive as Hillary herself. She has thrown the Democrats under the train to try to score points. Edwards and Obama are both outstanding candidates but despite being a woman, Hillary would create conflict and further divide in our country.

[genmalia]

Or they do not know who to vote for in the Republican primary and want to go up against the Democrat more sure to lose.

Wasn't it Mitt Romney who said that he registered as a Democrat in the past so he could vote for the weakest candidate to go against the Republicans?

[legaljohn]

Race in the Race to be President

It was bound to happen, but it's still unfortunate that the RACE ISSUE has been injected into the Presidential race. For the good of the American people it would be a good thing if the insertion of the emotionally charged race issue diluted itself out of this vital decision making process. Unfortunately there are some in the media and others who want their candidate to win at any cost (the end justifies the means). The media and these individuals will probably continue to fan the fire of the highly charged emotions and persist on scratching the deep pain caused by it.

Yet, it is steel redeeming that so many of us across the nation are concerned and writing about and participating in this process of selecting our next president. It's possible that a good number of us see and feel this next phase of our history as key to our maintaining a continuing influential and much needed leadership role in the present and future happenings of this world.

Whether it is Barack, John, or Hillary, they are American patriots who wish to do their best for the American people. I believe they hold in their hearts, a belief that their service will make an impacting difference for the better.

Pore over Hillary's achievements, her dedication to the cause of children and family (Look up "It Takes A Village"), and the words of those who have been close to her. An extraordinary woman and leader.

Remember "Vast right-wing conspiracy" in trying to defend her husband? It was very personal to Hillary. Yet, Nielsen says: Talk radio is made up of conservative commentators. Top five: Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Boortz, and Beck. On TV: O'Reilly, Hannity and FOX. Ann Coulter comes to mind?

All her life, unknowingly, Hillary has been preparing herself for this time in history. I pray she is our 44th President.