Reply #: Obama works to convert in Pennsylvania

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Obama works to convert in Pennsylvania

Carrie Budoff Brown Politico Mar 14, 2008 04:35

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. — Nearly a month before voters go to the polls, Sen. Barack Obama will get an early clue about his chances against Pennsylvania’s prohibitive favorite, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the days after the March 24 voter registration deadline, state election officials will release figures that measure the almost singular focus of Obama’s field operation until then: political conversions.

Obama is attempting to crack open Pennsylvania’s closed party primary, initiating a program to flip the registrations of independent and Republican voters to Democrat.

The Pennsylvania strategy is aimed at giving Obama a head start by expanding the rolls by tens of thousands of voters ahead of the April 22 election. The final tabulations from the Department of State could offer the first tangible indications of whether Obama can catch Clinton in a state where she holds the advantage.

...The number of party change applications in February showed a 250 percent jump from a year earlier, according to a spreadsheet provided Wednesday by the Department of State. In January, there was a 65 percent increase.

...more at the link