GOP Fails in Its Quest to Lure 100,000 Democrats

Republicans today admitted they fell far short of their goal of luring 100,000 Democrats to sign with the GOP in 100 days, and Democrats said their rivals’ drive for converts “failed miserably.”

Republican National Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf said 59,813 officially signed up. The 100,000 goal will be met, he said, when 40,636 more Democrats who have promised to change parties do so. He provided their names and addresses to back up his numbers.

But to reach the 100,000 number announced in May as the GOP goal, the Republicans included 2,410 converts from California--which was not part of the initial campaign--to totals in the four “target” states they had said they would concentrate on: Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Original Goal

The original goal was to have 100,000 signed up--not just pledged--by Aug. 15.

Democrats said no matter how you look at them, the figures are “phony.”

“Obviously there is no mass exodus from the Democratic Party in this country,” said Terry Michael, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. “No one denies (Republicans) are becoming more competitive, but there is no realignment taking place. They failed miserably.”

Michael questioned the number of official converts. He distributed an article published in the Charlotte, N.C., Observer that said the newspaper counted only 2,130 switches at boards of election, compared to the 7,075 claimed by the GOP.

At a news conferewnce, Fahrenkopf said he stood by the figures in North Carolina, noting it often takes months for the records to be officially changed once voters change their registration.

The chairman announced a second phase of the program to convert Democrats, saying that California and New Mexico will be added as target states, with Illinois GOP Chairman Don Adams in charge of the effort. But this time, he said, there will be no numerical goals and no time limit.