August 18, 2010
Some deluge
Clarice Feldman
Arizona's Espresso Pundit makes fun of the Arizona Republic's predictions about the political affect of the state's immigration law:

I especially enjoyed the commentary by Democrats who "worried" that SB 1070 was going to lead to the demise of the Republican Party. This "concern" was coupled with the "fact" that people were flocking to Democratic Party headquarters in order to register to vote. Here's agood example of the coverage.

I love the headline. "SB 1070 Backlash spurs Hispanics to Join Democrats."

Here's the lede.

In the seven weeks since Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's tough new immigration law, there has been a sharp increase in the number of Latinos registering to vote as Democrats, party officials say, jumping from about 100 a week before to 500 now.

Now that we've had some time to tabulate the numbers, how is that registration drive going? Here are the latest statistics.

The number of registered voters in Arizona has increased 1 percent over the last three months. Statewide figures showed Democratic registration decreased by 530 voters. Registration for Independents rose by more than 25,000 voters and increased by more than 10,000 voters for Republicans.

Wow, down 530. That's really embarrassing...and to think, the registration forms are written in Spanish and everything...

I don't know who should be more embarrassed, the Democratic Activists who thought their SB 1070 demagoguery would lead to increased voter participation...or the naive journalists who cheered them on.