10.28.2004
Registration: As Voting Rolls Increase, So Do the Wild Cards (NYTimes.com)
By JAMES DAO
Published: October 27, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 26 - Lionel White seems like the kind of new voter who could help the Democrats win this crucial swing state. He is 23, black, works at a fast food restaurant and is angry about the economy, urban blight and the war in Iraq.
But Mr. White registered himself to vote this year for the first time because he was getting paid by the Urban League to register others. He did not watch the debates, confesses to having a marginal interest in politics and feels the candidates are not talking about issues he cares about. He is lukewarm at best about going to the polls next week.
'I don't think either one of them gives a damn about us,' he said of the two main presidential candidates while standing on the stoop of his house on the east side of this city.
As Mr. White's story suggests, many newly registered voters are wild cards whose uncertain allegiances could tip the vote in closely contested states like this one, making such voters the focus of an intense tug of war between the parties.
(More ... The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Registration: As Voting Rolls Increase, So Do the Wild Cards) ¶ 21:31
Published: October 27, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 26 - Lionel White seems like the kind of new voter who could help the Democrats win this crucial swing state. He is 23, black, works at a fast food restaurant and is angry about the economy, urban blight and the war in Iraq.
But Mr. White registered himself to vote this year for the first time because he was getting paid by the Urban League to register others. He did not watch the debates, confesses to having a marginal interest in politics and feels the candidates are not talking about issues he cares about. He is lukewarm at best about going to the polls next week.
'I don't think either one of them gives a damn about us,' he said of the two main presidential candidates while standing on the stoop of his house on the east side of this city.
As Mr. White's story suggests, many newly registered voters are wild cards whose uncertain allegiances could tip the vote in closely contested states like this one, making such voters the focus of an intense tug of war between the parties.
(More ... The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Registration: As Voting Rolls Increase, So Do the Wild Cards) ¶ 21:31
