Did ‘Operation Chaos’ Rule the Day in Pennsylvania Primary?
Terry Trippany on Apr 23 2008 at 7:27 am | Filed under: Election 2008, Feature Article
Hillary Clinton launched into a predictably amateurish bit after winning the Pennsylvania primary; acting like Rocky toppling a formidable foe. Is this really all the Democrats have to offer?
It’s hard to tell what actually happened here however. The outcome was pretty much as predicted and I’m not so sure the exit polls show any indication that Operation Chaos had any affect on Hillary’s numbers.
Page 4 of CNN’s exit poll data is sadly empty in the vote by ID column for determining the split. It indicates that 3% of the vote was by those who identified themselves as republican. So we look elsewhere.
Of those who changed voter registration since January 54% claimed to have voted for Obama to Hillary’s 46%. Operation Chaos crossovers wouldn’t have done so until the last week so the poll is useless in that respect.
However Operation Chaos has been a theme in the undercurrents of conversations and the fact that the question isn’t on the exit polls indicates to me that they don’t want to know. Generally when people don’t want to know if something is possibly a deciding factor in a vote I get the feeling that it is. That “look the other way” approach is either out of fear of the truth or an underlying need to suppress such factors when faced with the truth. Hillary Clinton supporters would love to pretend that all of the crossover vote was because Republicans truly liked her. The fact of the matter is that most republicans would rather set themselves on fire than vote for Hillary Clinton.
At the end of the day Operation Chaos voters in the field got what they wanted; Hillary Clinton is very much in the race.
One other note in the exit polls. 95% of the voters that voted for Clinton are confident that she will be the Democratic presidential nominees. Only 79% of the people that voted for Obama feel the same. This shows that the Obama crowd has a big distrust of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party establishment.
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Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic party, Hillary Clinton, Operation Chaos, Pennsylvania Primary
It certainly appears that Operation Chaos is achieving some success, but what is Rush’s ultimate strategy. Is the Republican Party going to be better off in November when this election is over because of Operation Chaos? Operation Chaos-Practice Your Strategic Thinking
Hi,
I stopped by Warden’s strategic thinking post and it looks to me to be little more than a self promotion piece. The ultimate strategy is clear, keep both candidates in the primary for as long as possible for the effect of:
1.) Having them beat up on each other while McCain sits back in the wings, conserving money most importantly, and not going negative.
2.) Muddle the numbers. Whether or not Operation Chaos is real it has them wondering. Since the exit polls aren’t asking the question there is no way to tell if the crossover is real or not. It also makes the super delegates question the results at the polls. This is beautiful.
3.) It exposes the left for the hypocrites that they really are. If you recall the Michigan primary it was liberal crossovers that tried to hijack the Republican ticket at the behest of the Daily Kos. After all, Michigan didn’t count because the DNC said so. What a great move. The genesis of operation chaos came from the left and now their panties are all in a bunch.
Remember, the Democrats had threatened to look over your shoulder while you were voting to make sure you were a true Democrat. Think of this. Anyone who wasn’t legitimately determined to be a true crossover would vote under the intimidating threat of legal action. So what are these poll watchers, members of the Democratic part or the Kremlin?
The strategy is clear to me.