There’s an old cliché in politics that the only poll that matters is the one taken on Election Day. And that means who actually shows up to vote.
After all the ads, all the money, all the attacks, the only thing that matters is voter turnout.
A year ago, turnout for the presidential election was over 70 percent. Four years ago in the governor’s race, it was 40 percent. So for the candidates, it’s all about getting “their” voters to the polls.
Who the candidates campaigned with in the final days says everything we need to know about voter turnout.
Terry McAuliffe got President Obama on Sunday night and Vice-President Biden on Monday. And perhaps most telling, he got former President Clinton for four days last week.
Ken Cuccinelli relied on the Tea Party faithful. Rand Paul and Ron Paul were among those brought in to fire up Cuccinelli’s true believers.
Terry McAuliffe has used part of his big fundraising advantage to set up field officers across Virginia with one goal in mind – boost voter turnout.
We’ll know if that money was well spent as election results start rolling in.
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