GOP funk: Money, enthusiasm lagging

GOP funk: Money, enthusiasm lagging
By: John F. Harris
Jan 1, 2008 07:19 PM EST

DES MOINES, Iowa — As the New Year arrives at last in Iowa, the signs are everywhere why Democrats have much more reason than Republicans to welcome 2008.

Iowans are voting with their feet. While both parties have wide-open nomination contests, crowds for the Democratic candidates in recent days are unmistakably larger and more enthusiastic than those turning out for the GOP contenders.

Around the country, people are voting with their wallets. Early reports on the close of 2007 fundraising put a yearlong financial disparity between the parties on glaring display.

Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, aides said, both raised more than $100 million in 2007, sums that GOP sources say are at least $40 million greater than those of GOP financial leaders Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

The anemic state of Republicans will likely become more glaring still on caucus voting Thursday evening.

Officials in both parties and independent observers expect participation in the Democratic caucus could run nearly twice as high as in the Republican contest — a reflection of the greater urgency Democrats feel about the 2008 election and greater enthusiasm for their choices.

If these predictions come true, the results will track a trend over the past couple of years — accelerating in recent months — of Democratic and independent voter registration significantly outpacing Republican registration.

Since President Bush carried this state in 2004, Democrats have surged and for the first time in a dozen years there are now more registered Democrats (603,000) than Republicans (575,000, with 740,000 independents).

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7661.html

When a party puts everything they have into backing the least qualified person to hold the office of President in recent history, what else can they expect? Payback's a bitch.

According to "Thompson advisors" and "Thompson campaign sources."

Obviously a leak to prepare for the inevitable surrender of Reagan's heir and the savior of the GOP!