PA voters continue to flock to Democratic Party

In April, as they were being buried under a flood of some 310,000 new Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania, state Republican leaders promised a major effort to win back voters after the primary.

But according to Pennsylvania Republican Committee Spokesman Michael Barley, the GOP will mount a "pretty aggressive voter registration effort right after the primary," to get those who have switched sides back into the Republican fold.

Republicans predicted success.

[Republican] party officials believe they can get as much as 40 percent of those who left this year back into the Republican fold after they’ve voted in the primary.

Not only did voters not return, Republicans haven't even mounted the effort they promised. Now they're talking about getting around to it some time this summer. Derrick Nunnally of the Inky reports:

In several counties, Republicans are just beginning to move to try to recapture lost ground...

In Bucks County...GOP leaders haven't yet begun a planned effort to shepherd home their lost sheep.

"We haven't pushed yet to send out letters and talk to them," said Harry Fawkes, Bucks County's Republican chairman for 36 years. "A lot of them, we're hoping, will come back. I can't predict it. We're going to try to do it."

Can't you just feel the enthusiasm? Scott Kraus reported in the Morning Call on June 28 (no link) that the state GOP is adrift:

In Montgomery County...a highly promoted GOP website set up to win back wayward Republicans disappeared after a change in party leadership...

"We do feel that within the summer months and as we get closer to the presidential election, and more volunteers come out, that is a big effort we will be pushing," Barley said.

As Republicans wait for volunteers who aren't showing up, the imbalance in party registrations quickly grows even greater. Between the April primary and the end of June, some 47,000 voters have registered as Democrats. In the same period, Republicans lost about 2,000 registrations.

The following counties (all but one in the south east) have added more than 3,000 new Dem voters: Allegheny, Philadelphia, Montgomery, Berks and Delaware. The gains in Bucks and Lehigh counties were not far behind.

Remember back in April when Republicans tried to dismiss the Democratic tidal wave as an artifact of Rush Limbaugh's gravitational attraction? Well, nowadays they're exploring other excuses.

"I'm just not sure that people consider registration as important as in the past," said Bob Asher, the longtime state Republican power broker. "There's just a lot more people that vote more of an independent streak and not necessarily a straight party, so they don't really feel that's important."...

The tide of Democratic registrations in the Philadelphia suburbs has not been matched by new independent or third-party registrations, suggesting that the change may be decidedly partisan. Montgomery County, for example, has gained about 1,000 more Democrats since April 22 than it has independent and third-party registrants combined.

Nobody but Republican leaders seem to be buying the argument that party registration no longer matters. The Morning Call (no link) quotes pollster Chris Borick on this talking point:

[Borick] said the continued Republican voter erosion shouldn't be shrugged off. The post-primary registration numbers continue a damaging two-year trend for the GOP.

Switching voters "have done this for a reason," Borick said. "That might be a broader statement of dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, the leadership and the [Iraq] war, but whatever it is, these people have taken the time to redefine themselves. I don't take that lightly."

Neither do Republican leaders in PA, you can be sure, otherwise they wouldn't be trying so hard to spin the bad news. So it's all the more remarkable that they've been unable even to begin to address their problems.