Sunday, October 10, 2004

Local GOP Desperate

Local Republicans picked the wrong sign to steal.

Last night our Kerry/Edwards/Hoeffel sign was stolen as were signs up and down our block. When we filed a police report, the officer said that in his ten years on the force, he has never seen anything like this. They are getting reports of stolen signs almost daily. While the police say both sides claim to be losing signs, the Centre Daily Times, our local Knight Ridder paper, aka the CDT, has received mostly letters about Kerry signs being stolen.

The published police reports also refer mostly to Kerry signs. Meanwhile, there is a huge five foot Bush sign right near the mall outside town, surely an inviting target. No one has touched it.

Who is stealing our yard signs? Well, on Sept 28, the CDT reported
Political yard signs reported stolen

STATE COLLEGE -- State College police received three complaints of yard signs supporting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry being stolen from a neighborhood over the weekend, and in two cases, "College Republican" stickers were reportedly left behind.

According to police, two signs for Kerry and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards were reported stolen from 849 Saxton Drive at 5:48 p.m. Sunday. A "College Republican" sticker had been placed on the home's front door, police said. A Kerry-Edwards sign was also reported stolen from 938 S. Sparks St. at 12:22 p.m. Sunday, according to police. A "College Republican" sticker was placed on another Democratic sign in this case, police said. A Kerry sign was also discovered missing Monday morning from 705 Storch Road, police said.
Likewise the Daily Collegian, the Penn State student newspaper, reported on Oct. 4 that

(Penn State College Democrats President Megan) Green also said many people come into the office looking for more bumper stickers because they have gone out to their car to find campaign stickers for President George W. Bush placed over their Kerry stickers. State College resident Selden Smith discovered last week that Penn State College Republican stickers had covered the Kerry bumper stickers on his car.


The local GOP is acting desperate if they are promoting a yard sign stealing campaign. Things are not going well for George Bush nationally, and things are not going well for him here. According to the CDT, since January, 5,000 new people have registered and as of October 5th, 2,000 were still waiting to be processes. However, in the last days before the deadline, between Oct 5th and 8th, 8,000 new registrations came in, half of which appear to come from students. While both parties are working hard to register new people, new Democratic registrations have outpaced Republican. Of the 5,000 new voters processed by Oct 5th, only 32% are Republican. 45% are Democrats and 23% are Independents, and we all know that Bush is polling poorly with that group.

What about those still to be processed? On October 5th, a volunteer for the local Democratic Party had about 500 more to deliver, while the local GOP had a “thick stack.” Hmmmm.

How about those who are registering? Check these quotes

At local Republican campaign headquarters on South Allen Street, Georgia-born Libby Lusht, a State College resident for 30 years, picked up a registration form to get it to someone she knows who was not yet registered Lusht sees Kerry and Bush as a choice between a diplomat and a yard dog when Americans face an imminent threat of violence. "Which do you want between you and the threat?" Lusht said. "I just don't see talking our way to safety."
I had to read that twice. Kerry is the diplomat and Bush is a “yard dog.” I guess that transplanted Georgia voter prefers “Furious George.” Personally, I’d prefer the diplomat. Meanwhile, at the local Democratic Headquarters,

Voters seeking last-minute registration Monday included Penn State graduate student Allison Morgan, 25, who voted in Maryland in the presidential election four years ago. Morgan hand-delivered her registration form to the Willowbank Building to make sure she got signed up here.

"I don't have a good feeling about the war -- why we went," she said. "That alone is enough to make me want to vote for Kerry."


Our New Sign

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