Dems Have to Work to Encourage Voter Turnout

From statesman.com -Everyone believes that Barack Obama can't win Texas because Democrats don't spend any money here. I wrote as much in a guest column in these pages back in February, declaring confidently that when Texas Democrats put money into getting out the Hispanic vote, then we'll become the biggest swing state in the country.Turns out, I was wrong. It happens, and as is usually the case, one of my friends pointed out my mistake. Ed Espinoza, who headed up Hispanic turnout operations in Western states for the Democratic National Committee, pointed me to one case in which the Obama campaign did spend money in Texas with depressing, if instructive, results. In 2008, Obama targeted New Mexico. Winning that state means buying TV time in the El Paso media market because it reaches Las Cruces, N.M. That meant that New Mexicans and old Texicans saw the same ads in 2008. But only 38 percent of El Paso County voted in the 2008 general election, far fewer than the 62 percent turnout in neighboring Doña Ana County just over the state line. "Same media market. The voters are seeing the same commercials. They're voting in the same election. The turnout is a 24 percent difference. That on the surface is significant," said Espinoza the other day over scotch and wings at the Tavern.  More here

Dems Have to Work to Encourage Voter Turnout