Legal Commentary

Independents May Play Key Role in Rhode Island

By Jeralyn

Rhode Island holds its primary March 4. It's another state with an open primary, meaning Independents can vote in the Democratic contest.

This may not bode well for Hillary Clinton, even though recent polls have her ahead of Barack Obama in the state (poll results here (pdf)) and the Clintons are very popular in the state. There's been a surge in voter registrations..

About 6,800 of the voters who registered in the last four months are Democrats, 1,900 are Republicans and 12,000 are independents, who can vote in either party's primary.

The new voters this year are also young voters. About 20,000 are between the ages of 18 and 29, the Journal reported.

Rhode Island has 21 delegates. Hillary will campaign there Feb. 24. It's true that Independents and young voters tend to favor Obama. But, this statement by an Obama organizer at Brown University is just silly:

More...

"If we beat Hillary here, she's going to have to drop out because she's going to run out of money.

Rhode Island also has a large senior citizen population:

Rhode Island has one of the largest populations of senior citizens per capita of any state and has a large number of working class voters, groups that have been strong supporters of Clinton in previous contests.

The dilemma for Hillary:

Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans three to one in Rhode Island, although there are more so-called "unaffiliated" voters than Democrats and Republicans combined. Those voters can cast ballots in either primary.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 16, 2008 (boomark / email).