The upside of the contested primaries

No really, there is one. A big one.
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(That's what she said...)

At local Democratic events, we're seeing more new faces than ever much earlier than ever.

See this photo

Photo by Clem from Friday's Berkeley County Democratic headquarters opening.

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To those of us who have canvassed door to door in past elections, that is a very welcome sight.

And it only looks better for downticket candidates too.

From Associated Press:

As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue to battle for every last Democratic convention delegate, the resulting interest in West Virginia's May 13 primary has helped push the state's voter rolls to a record-high 1.18 million.

But while Democrats remain the majority party in the Mountain State, their decision to open their primary to unaffiliated voters also appears a factor behind the increase.

These voters account for nearly half of the growth seen since the last statewide election, in 2006. And while both Democrats and Republicans have actually seen drops in their ranks since 2004, when total registration hit a 52-year high, new unaffiliated voters more than offset their declines.

Changes in voter registration since January, meanwhile, suggest that the Democrats should expect more than a few once-and-future Republicans to cast ballots in their primary. Besides a chance to meddle in the other party's presidential contest, GOP switchovers would encounter far more choices for statewide, legislative and even local offices.

"On the Republican ballot, there's not a whole lot of races on there,'' noted Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick.

Official figures from the secretary of state's office show that of the West Virginians registered by last week's deadline for voting in the primary, 665,234 are Democrats and 347,760 are Republicans. Another 156,199 are unaffiliated, 931 belong to the Mountain Party and 13,371 are with some other alternative party.

snip

The Obama campaign added offices in Clarksburg, Huntington, Martinsburg and Parkersburg over the weekend to an in-state presence that already included locales in Beckley, Charleston, Morgantown, and Wheeling. Clinton has opened an office in Charleston, with more planned as it steps up get-out-the-vote efforts, a campaign spokeswoman said.
A dozen of the larger counties account for nearly 60 percent of the 46,124 voters added since 2006. They include Cabell and Monongalia, where officials cite registration drives focused on college students and other young people. Several of these counties attribute some of their new voters to efforts by Obama supporters.

"The Obama campaign, I understand, was very active'' before the April 22 registration deadline, state Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey said. He added that he suspects the Clinton camp was similarly engaged.

Well, except the Clinton campaign didn't really get engaged in West Virginia until a week before the voter registration deadline. Still, there might have been some independent effort by local Clinton supporters. But Casey's understandably has got to be diplomatic.

The Obama campaign added offices in Clarksburg, Huntington, Martinsburg and Parkersburg over the weekend to an in-state presence that already included locales in Beckley, Charleston, Morgantown, and Wheeling. Clinton has opened an office in Charleston, with more planned as it steps up get-out-the-vote efforts, a campaign spokeswoman said.

The list by AP doesn't include the ninth Obama office in Romney.

Early voting continues until May 10. The primary is May 13.

The Washington Post also has a front page story on how the contested primary between two historic candidates has been a boon to the Democratic Party in terms of adding to new numbers.

Like hundreds of others, their quests led them to the Wake County voter services office this month to register as Democrats for the first time. The line of newcomers that snaked across the checkered tile floor was emblematic of those that have formed across the country this year: black voters, young voters, lifelong Republicans switching parties -- all registering in record numbers, and all aligning as Democrats.

Elections Director Cherie Poucher waited for them behind a counter with a jar of pens and a 10-inch stack of registration forms. She had hired 10 people from a temp agency to help handle the rush on this final day of North Carolina voter registration. Now, as she watched four more people file through the door, Poucher wished she had hired more.

"In 20 years," she said, "I've never seen anything quite like it."

The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.

The contest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has engaged enough new voters to change the political makeup of the country, experts say.

In either event, this is also going to help Democrats down ticket as well.

Considering how popular the Democratic Party is this election, Gov. Joe Manchin (D) might want to put his Democratic Party affiliation on his web site.

Senator Obama supporters on Martinsburg's main thoroughfare, King Street.