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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, November 16, 2009

No Republican Revolution in Northampton County

We all know that Republicans swept all five seats open on Northampton County Council. Many people conclude, therefore, that Dems simply stayed home. But according to some Northampton County officials, over 19,000 Democrats voted on November 3. Only 16,000 Republicans voted. This obviously means some Democrats split their tickets to vote GOP.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

This may be true, but in a county with that type of registration advantage to the Dems you have to have more than a 3000 voter turnout advantage to win countywide. The turn out was lower than 2007 and that hurt. Bethlehem turning out makes all the difference and they stayed home.

Anonymous said...

Democrats in the municipalities are very conservative and independent. When a republican votes they only pull the Republican lever or they do not vote. Democrats will split their tickets.

The Bethlehem Dem's really did not come out in force.

not so casual observer said...

Maybe those Democrats saw great candidates!

Anonymous said...

That or the lesser of two evils.

Anonymous said...

"according to some Northampton County officials, over 19,000 Democrats voted on November 3. Only 16,000 Republicans voted."


According to "some" doesn't sound very official??? Gossip???
What is your source?

Anonymous said...

"County voting officials do not tally whether general election voters are Republican or Democrat. However, a Morning Call computer analysis of Tuesday's vote shows that turnout in Republican-dominated districts was about double that of turnout in Democrat-dominated districts. That's in sharp contrast to what happened last November. "

Bernie O'Hare said...

My source was a highly placed insider. I called Director of Administration John Conklin, who confirmed the information is accurate.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 9:18, Notwithstanding Morning Call computers, the final vote tally shows that more Dems voted than Rs in Northampton County. I'm sure R turn-out was higher in R-dominated districts. That's like saying that when the sun is out, it's sunny.

Anonymous said...

Conklin is an idiot. Is he saying he can rig an election with information he can't have.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Conklin merely confirmed information I already had. So far as I know, he has not been called before the statewide grand jury investigating deceptive campaign practices. So when you want to slam someone, you might want to start there.

Anonymous said...

THings are pretty bad when the DEms would rather vote for a REpublican than a Longdem.

Anonymous said...

They do it all the time. Dem's are open minded unlike Republicans

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the unaffiliated voters. Neither Dem nor Rep. I believe the NoCo website said more than 39,000 people came out to vote. With 19,000 Dems and 16,000 than 4000 who voted were “independents”.

As to the Morning Call’s assertion that turnout in Republican-dominated districts….
What the Morning Call article doesn’t say is in Northampton County there are no “Republican dominated districts”. No one precinct in Northampton County has more than 50% registered Republicans. (There is one precinct that is very close – 49.6% as of mid September.) Contrast that with “Democrat dominated” districts where there are more than a 10 precincts that have over 70% Democrat registration.

That being said, I agree that “revolution” is a stronger concept than I am willing to embrace, however something remarkable happened in Northampton County. The focus on the local elections is only part of the story. What is really unusual is how well the statewide Republicans did in Northampton County (with the notable exception of Judge Panella). It seems incredible to me that local Dems crossed party lines to vote for Republican state judicial candidates – most of whom they probably knew nothing about. More likely the Dem voters simply did not vote for the Dem Superior and Commonwealth Court candidates. The question is – Why?

Anonymous said...

I think Republican Revolution is not accurate and will never happen. Look at the 23d District in NY that had Palin and Beck and Rush and who knows who else campaign and they went Dem for the first time in 100 years. The only time the Reps will win in the future is when there is a battle of individuals or local unrest that has nothing to do with the bigger national picture (like the public local disdain for the LongDems which I feel is who the Reps can thank.) The Repulican candidates were good and professional and smart and the LongDems have been digging their graves for months if not years...that's not a Revolutions...that's a local hillbilly gangwar. The Rep party is destined to split into the clothcoat Republicans focused on financial issues and the crazy whack job right wing which is much stronger and will dominate the clothcoats until the Reps are irrevelant as a Party.