MEMO from Obama for
America Iowa
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday,
October 23, 2012
CONTACT:
Obama for America Iowa Press
DES MOINES – Today Obama for America Iowa released a memo from
State Director Brad Anderson highlighting our recent early voting
accomplishments in Iowa.
Memo
from
Brad
Anderson,
Iowa
State
Director
re:
Early Voting in Iowa
The day after a strong final debate performance, Democrats are building
upon the historic grassroots organization we built in Iowa in 2008,
including our 67 Obama for America offices and hundreds of
well-trained, experienced volunteer-led neighborhood teams in every
corner of the state. As a result of that strong foundation and
enthusiasm for President Obama, today we are ahead of where we were at
this time against John McCain – and ahead of Mitt Romney.
Unprecedented early voting numbers show enthusiasm for the President
and the strength of OFA’s organization, while Republicans were caught
completely unprepared for early voting.
Iowa Democrats Maintain a Significant Lead in Early Voting
·
Topline: Democrats have a huge lead in
early voting, and that lead is growing every day. Ten days ago,
for example, Democrats led by D +52,681 in total ballots cast, and
today that advantage has increased to D +54,968.
·
Winning Across the Board: Democrats lead
on every early vote metric - Vote by Mail requests, mail ballots
returned, in-person ballots cast and total ballots cast
|
D |
R |
Margin
|
Vote by Mail Requests
|
188,359 |
125,148 |
D +63,211 |
Mail Ballots Returned
|
123,134 |
75,452 |
D +47,682 |
In-Person Ballots Cast
|
36,668 |
29,382 |
D +7,286 |
Total Ballots Cast
|
159,802 |
104,834 |
D +54,968 |
|
D |
R |
Margin
|
Vote by Mail Requests
|
45.6% |
30.3% |
D +15.3 |
Mail Ballots Returned
|
49.6% |
30.4% |
D +19.2 |
In-Person Ballots Cast
|
41.9% |
33.6% |
D +8.3 |
Total Ballots Cast
|
47.6% |
31.2% |
D +16.4 |
·
Winning by More than 2008: In 2008, Barack
Obama won Iowa by 9.5 percentage points. At this time in 2008, we
led by D +57,004 in mail ballot requests, D +29,513 in mail ballots
returned and 44,686 in total ballots cast. Our early vote
advantage this year is bigger than it was at the same time in 2008.
·
Snapshot: In-Person Early Vote
o
Democrats are leading Republicans 36,668 to 29,382
in in-person early vote.
o
Students are voting early in record numbers,
including 477 students voting at Cornell following the President’s
speech on October 17
th – 1/3 of the student body.
·
Registration: One of the untold
stories of the ground game in Iowa is OFA’s historic voter registration
effort this year. Democrats lead Republicans in registered voters
by D +17,486 (D 689,794 vs. R 672,308). In the last three months
alone, 16,257 registered Democrats were added to the rolls compared
with just 2,428 Republicans. As a result, the Democratic
registration advantage increased from D +3,657 in August to D +17,486
today. The Democratic advantage continues to grow every single
day as new voters register, and will continue growing right up through
Election Day. Since August, Democrats have added 22,406 active voters
to the rolls and Republicans have added just 5,924.
Why OFA’s Ground Game Matters
·
OFA Iowa
has 67 offices across the state,
with hundreds of trained team leaders, leading thousands of
volunteers. OFA has volunteers in all 99 counties.
·
Democrats are winning the battle
for early non-midterm voters. Democrats lead Republicans among
non-midterm voters in mail ballots requested, total ballots cast, mail
ballots cast and in-person ballots cast.
Among Non-Midterm Voters Only
|
D |
R |
Margin
|
Vote by Mail Requests
|
59,336 |
27,778 |
D +31,558 |
Mail Ballots Returned
|
27,115 |
12,798 |
D +14,317 |
In-Person Ballots Cast
|
8,823 |
4,092 |
D +4,731 |
Total Ballots Cast
|
35,938 |
16,890 |
D +19,048 |
|
D |
R |
Margin
|
Vote by Mail Requests
|
43.4% |
20.3% |
D +23.1 |
Mail Ballots Returned
|
46.1% |
21.8% |
D +24.4 |
In-Person Ballots Cast
|
40.3% |
18.7% |
D +21.6 |
Total Ballots Cast
|
44.5% |
20.9% |
D +23.6 |
The Romney Campaign is Struggling in Iowa
·
“I see the early vote numbers, and I grimace a
little bit. … It feels like an Obama state.” – former Iowa
Republican Party political director Craig Robinson. [
National Journal,
9/21/12]
·
Recent GOP early vote numbers do not show
momentum, they simply show that the Romney campaign did a mass,
“1-million person” mailing, according to GOP Romney operative Matt
Strawn.
·
Early Republicans tried to push early voting as
Rep. Paul Ryan reminded Iowans during an event in September. Iowa
Republican operative Matt Strawn told a reporter in September, “Anybody
that tells one of our volunteers that they’re supporting Mitt Romney,
you bet we want that vote cast as soon as possible.” Yet as
numbers started to show a large gap between Democrats and Republicans
the change their message as Megan Stiles- Communications Director for
the Republican Party of Iowa said on October 1
st,
“Republicans tend to actually prefer to go to the polls and pull the
lever so to speak on Election Day.”