Voter turnout?

[mossy]

I'm assuming there was a good voter turnout in NH---anyone know %?

[NHPolitico]

I'm assuming there was a good voter turnout in NH---anyone know %?

New voters were a big part of the increase in turnout.

[mossy]

This would confirm the opinion that this election will be a record-breaker in terms of participation---what was it in 2000--??

[NHPolitico]

I'm assuming there was a good voter turnout in NH---anyone know %?

I found this...

Voter turnout in N.H. a record for Democrats

Published: Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004

CONCORD (AP) - A fiercely contested seven-way race lured a record number of voters to the polls in New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary.

With 100 percent of precincts counted, 219,246 Democratic ballots had been cast, shattering the mark of 170,000 set in 1992, when Paul Tsongas beat Bill Clinton.

Overall turnout did not set a record because the Republican primary, in which 62,927 ballots were cast, essentially was uncontested.

Secretary of State William Gardner had predicted 184,000 votes in the Democratic primary, about one third of them independents. Independents may vote in either primary.

A combined 395,000 votes were cast in 2000 in the Democratic and Republican primaries, both of which were contested.

The combined vote total Tuesday was 282,173, with 100 percent of precincts counted on both sides.

[minionofmidas]

I'm assuming there was a good voter turnout in NH---anyone know %?

I found this...

Voter turnout in N.H. a record for Democrats

Published: Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004

CONCORD (AP) - A fiercely contested seven-way race lured a record number of voters to the polls in New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary.

With 100 percent of precincts counted, 219,246 Democratic ballots had been cast, shattering the mark of 170,000 set in 1992, when Paul Tsongas beat Bill Clinton.

Overall turnout did not set a record because the Republican primary, in which 62,927 ballots were cast, essentially was uncontested.

Secretary of State William Gardner had predicted 184,000 votes in the Democratic primary, about one third of them independents. Independents may vote in either primary.

A combined 395,000 votes were cast in 2000 in the Democratic and Republican primaries, both of which were contested.

The combined vote total Tuesday was 282,173, with 100 percent of precincts counted on both sides.

So that's what happened: Last time round the Republican and Democratic primaries were both contested, with the Republican one looking more interesting. So most Independents voted in that. Now they all voted in the Dem one.
I remember a quote from the Bush team in 2000 about "a hostile takeover of the Republican party". Haven't heard similar complaints from Dean yet...Though maybe they just didn't reach me here.

[zachman]

I doubt that this primary beat the turnout in 2000. Most of this year's turnout came from independents, mostly Republican voters who wanted an alternative to Bush.

You have to remember that in 2000, Bradley was beaten by McCain. The Democratic establishment went for Gore, the Repubican establishment went hard for Bush. The voters who went to rallies of all candidates liked both McCain and Bradley. This vote went overwhelmingly for McCain. If the system worked correctly it would have been McCain versus Bradley in 2000.

In the same way, with New Hampshire voters voting based on rallies, Edwards would have won, Dean in second (thats how he caught on initially), Clark and Lieberman both would have done strongly. Kerry would have come in a distant fifth. I went to a Kerry rally last weekend. It was miserable. Ted Kennedy, and former governor Shaheen talked for about 20 minutes, Teresa Heinz talked for about 15 minutes (she is weird!), and her children talked as well. Kerry spoke for about a half-hour. His speech was 100% Dean without the ynnical press.