The record turnout of voters on Jan. 3 in Iowa had Arizona’s politicians and party officials expounding on its potential ripple effect down the road.
The Arizona Democratic Party seized on the numbers — 239,000 Democrats turned out to caucus compared with 108,000 Republicans in Iowa — to press a point: That its voter base is “energized.”
Likewise, Democrates outpaced Republicans in New Hampshire’s caucuses, which set a participation record with more than a half-million people taking part. There were more than 287,000 Democratic ballots cast in New Hampshire and more than 238,000 Republican ones, according to the Associated Press.
“This sort of indicates what we will be seeing when we come to 2008,” said party spokeswoman Emily Bittner. “The people are really excited and motivated to put a Democrat in the White House.”
But Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, a Repubican, pointed out that Republicans also had a record turnout of caucus goers. In 2004, some 87,600 Republicans showed.
To make a blanket statement that the higher Democrat turnout in Iowa would necessarily extend to the rest of the nation is a stretch, Verschoor said.
Verschoor said what he saw was a heightened political awareness; people were paying close attention to the races.
Republican Sen. Jay Tibshraeny of District 21 said his party needs to look at the numbers. There could be a message there, he said. Remember, Republicans had tough 2006 elections, he said.
“We need to do some really serious work so we don’t have another major problem in November, both nationally and in the state,” the Chandler lawmaker said.
“Clearly the Democrats got a lot of people out (Jan. 3) — a huge number as compared to four years ago in Iowa,” he said, adding, “Democrats are working their voter base and the Republicans need to get in gear and work their voter base.”
State GOP Party Executive Director Sean McCaffrey said his “gut feel” is that it has been easier for Democrats to get behind a particular candidate — not so much for Republicans.
McCaffrey said he thinks many Republicans, especially within the party structure, had managed to stay neutral in the primary. Even in Arizona, Sen. John McCain’s home state, there are people within the party supporting other candidates, he pointed out.
In their registration drive, McCaffrey said Republicans work hard so no particular GOP hopeful benefits more than the other, explaining that each candidate has a strong pull among certain segments of the voting populace.
But on both sides of the political aisle, there was a genuine surprise, and admiration, of the feat that Illinois Sen. Barrack Obama pulled against Sen. Hillary Clinton, given the name recognition and machinery that her campaign commands — only to be surprised days later when she emerged victorious in New Hampshire.
For many, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s upset of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also threw things up in the air. The prevailing view nationally was that McCain, whose campaign was virtually pronounced dead a few months ago, benefited from Huckabee’s victory; but the Iowa and New Hampshire results also showed there was no clear frontrunner among the Republican hopefuls.
“We’re in a real horse race now,” Tibshraeny said.
Sen. Jim Waring, R-7, agreed: “A month ago, I don’t think anybody thought Huckabee was going to win at all, so to say that he won fairly decisively against somebody who has spent as much money as Governor Romney did in Iowa, I think it’s pretty amazing. It makes it anybody’s ballgame.”