Democrat turnout outnumbers GOP by 2-1

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By Whitney Woodward | Thursday, January 03, 2008 |

DES MOINES — Iowa Democrats outnumbered their Republican counterparts by an almost two-to-one margin at Thursday’s caucuses, wowing party officials who credited the tremendous showing to the strength of their party’s candidates and participants’ frustration with the Bush administration.

“The big news tonight is the turnout,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in an interview on MSNBC.

Statewide, more than 236,000 Democrats caucused. The figure that shatters the previous party’s record headcount of 124,000 four years ago.

That Iowa Democrats went to the polls in unprecedented droves indicates they’re hungry to turn the page on the Bush administration, said Dean, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate.

The strong showing also speaks to candidates’ well-organized campaigns, which personally contacted many caucus-goers.

Independent voters, who could participate in the caucus by declaring a party affiliation at their precinct, also may have played a role in the Democrats’ turnout surge.

“A big proportion of those numbers were first-time registers and independents,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said. “This means that a lot of independents are moving to the Democratic Party.“

The caucus turnout likely will tilt Iowa’s seven electoral votes into the Democratic nominee’s hands come November, Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Carrie Giddins said.

“Democrats were beyond enthusiastic tonight,” Giddins said. “This is a referendum on the last eight years of a failed Bush administration.”

Republicans also attracted an unprecedented volume, bringing 120,000 Iowans to their precincts after an eight-year caucus respite because President George W. Bush ran unopposed in 2004. The GOP had drawn about 87,000 participants in 2000.

While easily dwarfed by the Democrats’ showing, Republican Party of Iowa spokeswoman Mary Tiffany said the party was “very pleased“’ with Thursday’s figure.

“The campaigns are the turnout mechanism,” Tiffany said. “Their (Democrats’) campaigns put all of their eggs into one basket, and that basket is Iowa, whereas our campaigns have more of a national strategy.”

The attendance figures from both sides of the aisle also debunked speculation that a vast number of Iowans would skip the quadrennial ritual because this year’s caucus date fell so close to the holidays.

The bipartisan attendance surge also should help Iowa maintain its first-in-the-nation status, Harkin said. The caucus has been criticized, in part, because the number of attendees typically represents a mere fraction of the state’s 2 million registered voters.

Thursday’s showing significantly boosted the number of Iowans who take part.

“There was such a high turnout because of the attention that Iowa has gotten as being first in the nation,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said.

Whitney Woodward can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 and whitney.woodward@lee.net.