Reply #8: Sometimes the actual registration numbers

[SheilaT]

are misleading.

I used to live in Kansas, a very Republican state, and you'd be surprised at how many people there who will be voting for a Democrat in every office -- if there is a Democrat actually running -- nonetheless registers as a Republican because voting in the Republican primaries are more important tot them than helping increase the number of registered Democrats.

I used to get into arguments with my Democratic friends there about this, and usually could not convince them that they shouldn't care who the Republicans actually nominate, but instead be working for Democrats from the outset. And all too often, in the end there would be no Democrat running for the office, in no small part because what Democrat would want to bother, when the registration numbers are so unbalanced.

The other thing that happens is that someone is from a family that has registered Republican in Kansas (or maybe Democratic in WV) for several generations, and even though the young person now sincerely prefers the other party, he will stay in the family one out of a sense of loyalty, or not wanting to upset Grandma, or some such.