Pa. voter registration swells Democrats' ranks

While all of Obama's ads urge non-Democrats to join the Democratic Party, he is using some regional targeting as well. The ad in the Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas is tailored to young voters, mentioning Obama's opposition to the Iraq war and his plan to help loan-burdened college students. In the Philadelphia area, Obama's ad specifically talks to Republicans and independents unhappy with the country's direction and then recounts Obama's role in passing ethical reforms.

An Obama supporter, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records, announced a "Hip-Hop Team Vote: Turn up the Vote" campaign at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday that he hopes will register 15,000 to 20,000 voters before Monday. The group plans to use public service announcements from hip-hop recording artists and actors, including Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean and Will Smith.

Heightened interest in the Democratic contest and disenchantment with the Bush administration have likely spurred many Pennsylvanians to join the party on their own. More than a few Republicans have switched sides — at least for the primary.

At a makeshift registration center that Obama volunteers set up on a sidewalk recently in this affluent Philadelphia suburb, one woman boasted that she and five friends — like her, all Republicans — had simultaneously changed their registrations to Democratic to vote for Obama, who she called "a fresh face" in politics.

"I do feel he's honest. I think he's hard-working, and I think he can understand what the people are going through," said Linda Lemmon of Kennett Square.

But asked whether she would remain a Democrat through the general election, she replied, "I can't say that."

Mining the state's computerized voter registry for trends, the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, has found that:

— Since January, more than 100,000 Pennsylvanians who were not previously registered to vote did so.

— In that time, more than 68,000 registered voters changed their affiliation to one of the major parties, with those switching to Democratic registration outpacing those turning Republican by more than 3-1.

— The nine counties with the biggest percentage increases in Democratic enrollment since last fall — more than 5 percent — are mainly in two tightly contested areas — the Philadelphia suburbs and the state's vast central region. Despite the changes, Republicans still outnumber Democrats in all those counties.

One man who registered to vote for the first time at the Obama station here in Wayne was Tzvetan Tzonev, a newly naturalized citizen from Bulgaria.

But Tzonev said Clinton will get his vote, because Bill Clinton was president when he first arrived in this country and times were better then.

"It was a fantastic time," Tzonev said. "We thought maybe she will kind of continue this period of time, and we'll be out of all this mess."

One woman who stopped at the Obama table was Nina D'Iorio, already registered as a Democrat. She was carrying a bag of books including two by Obama.

D'Iorio said she was leaning toward him and wanted to learn more about him. While she longs to "see a strong, powerful woman thrive" as president, she worries that former President Clinton might hold his wife back.

Obama, she said, has "that JFK feel."

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

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