Democrats hail high turnout while GOP exudes confidence on House

Democrats on Tuesday insisted high Election Day turnout was
helping their party, while Republicans expressed confidence they would win back
a House majority.

“The reports that we’re getting back are encouraging,” said
Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesman Hari Sevugan.

He said Democrats are seeing strong turnout in the suburbs
of Philadelphia, central Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. More than a dozen
House seats in the two states are in play, as are races for the Senate and
governor.

{mosads}“The latest round of early vote numbers show very high
turnout in key constituencies and key geographic locations for us,” Sevugan
said.

But Republican officials dismissed early reports of high
turnout as unreliable.

“Any actual information you can get is information you
want,” said Republican National Committee (RNC) communications director Doug
Heye. “But how reliable it is is another question.”

House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) also voiced confidence
after casting his own ballot, saying it was “going to be a big day.”

“I think we have a real opportunity to win the majority, and
hopefully my colleagues will elect me Speaker,” Boehner said.

Both sides expressed confidence Tuesday about the way
turnout would affect election results, with the GOP claiming it was
well-positioned to win back the House and Democrats saying they were leaving
no stone unturned to limit their losses.

“Six weeks ago we were facing a situation where Republicans — and most people agreed — where Republicans were going to take the Senate,
the House and the majority of the governorships,” Sevugan said.

“We’re in a vastly different situation now because people
are beginning to tune in, and because of our get-out-the-vote efforts.”

Most observers think Republicans will win more than the net
gain of 39 seats they need to take the House, but the Senate has long been seen
as a tougher slog for the GOP.

Republicans need to pick up 10 seats, and recent polls
suggest Democratic incumbents are gaining strength in California and Washington.
Republicans probably need to win one of those two seats to take the majority
while also winning close races in Nevada, West Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania
and Illinois.

Heye said on-the-ground reports on Tuesday about turnout
won’t be good indicators of the elections’ trend lines.

“Election Days are remarkably slow during the day,” he said.
“There’s not much we’re hearing in terms of this district or that district.”

Voter turnout reports around the country varied. 

Ohio state department officials reported a moderate turnout so far, as did the Miami-Dade Elections Department. 

“It’s really hard to tell right now,” said Marie Bertot of the Miami-Dade Elections Department. “I wouldn’t say slow, I wouldn’t say swamped.”

Cole County Clerk Marvin Register in Missouri predicted voter turnout at 56 percent, 3 percent less than in the 2006 mid-term elections. 

Both national party committees marshaled statistics to make
the claim that their party was gaining an edge on the final day of the 2010
campaign cycle.

Republicans point to early voting, which Democrats have promoted heavily, as a positive indicator in 2010. The RNC says it has closed
or overtaken the major gap in early voting that Democrats enjoyed in 2006 and
2008, a boon that would only add to the GOP’s traditionally strong efforts to
drive turnout on the day of the election.

President Obama has hit the radio waves Monday and Tuesday
to boost turnout and early voting. Sevugan said that the DNC saw a late surge
in early voting numbers, in addition to early statistics and anecdotal evidence
the party was collecting.

Each party is closely monitoring certain indicators to
determine how its candidates are performing.

Democrats will look to see how get-out-the-vote efforts look
in the West, especially in states like Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado
and Washington — each of which has competitive House, Senate or
gubernatorial races on the ballot.

Republicans, meanwhile, will have an eye on early returns in
certain districts and races. The RNC will be eyeing races in Maine and the
contest for Rep. Barney Frank’s (D) seat in Massachusetts. GOP committees will
also have an eye on competitive races in Virginia and North Carolina for signs
of success.

“What we’ve seen is that the map just has not shrunk for
us,” Heye said. “Even in good years, the map shrinks over time. That’s not the
case this year.”

Kevin Cullum and Kwaku Duncan contributed to this report.

This story was posted at 1:06 p.m. and updated at 1:43 p.m.