Obama forces have altered entire local election map: Montco, Bucks now have a Dem majority

Six days remain to register new voters, but the Obama campaign's massive registration efforts already have shifted the local electoral map.

Democrats now have a 1.1 million registration edge in Pennsylvania, compared with a 580,000 advantage in the previous presidential election year of 2004. And the gains are pronounced in the Philadelphia suburbs, long considered Republican strongholds.

Both Montgomery and Bucks counties have flipped from a Republican majority to a Democratic majority. And in Chester and Delaware counties, the Republican-registration edges have shrunk substantially.

The changes are largely attributed to the Obama campaign, which has had thousands of volunteers knocking on doors and registering voters throughout the state leading up to both the primary- and general-election-registration deadlines.

"The organizational activity and the facility with which they've increased their contacts with voters, that has been a huge factor," said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College.

Although it's hard to predict how many of these new voters will show up on Election Day, Madonna said that the increase is significant.

"The Democrats are more enthusiastic and more likely to vote, and this is helped by this voter-registration edge," said Madonna. "You cannot make an argument that these registrations don't matter. They matter."

As of Sept. 22, there were 17,811 more Democrats than Republicans in Montgomery County. In 2004, there were 54,522 more registered Republicans.

In Bucks County the Democrats now have an advantage of 8,235 voters. Four years ago, there was a Republican edge of 34,836.

In Delaware County, the Republicans now have a 24,660 registration advantage, compared with a 99,713 majority in 2004. And in Chester, the Republicans hold a 29,930 advantage, down from 71,654 in 2004.

Democrat Joe Hoeffel, vice chairman of the Montgomery County commissioners, said that the election landscape is changing in the suburbs.

"There has been a steady erosion of the Republican Party here," he said. "A lot of Republicans are fed up with the [right-wing] rhetoric."

Calls to the Montgomery County Republicans and the state GOP were not returned. *