The 90 million who will NOT be voting . . .

[madashelltoo]

Who spoke to them, and where is their phone bill?

I'm not buying this either. I think they're hoping they can disenchant this many to raise the Repig's chances of winning the election.

[phantom power]

1. the southern strategy is not longer sufficient by itself...

The increasing populations of non-white voters relative to white voters simply make the math impossible. The GOP understands this, and so tactics like voter suppression, systematic disenfranchisement, and attempts to demoralize voters are now an equally important part of every campaign.

Unfortunately, it can work.

[Jessy169]

2. Who Votes, Who Doesn't, and Why -- slightly dated but still relevant article

From Pew Research:

To understand who votes and who doesn’t, survey respondents were divided into four groups based on their voting history, attitudes about voting, and interest in the current campaign. Together, these groups span the breadth of political participation, from regular voters to democracy’s bystanders(1):

Regular voters. These are adults who are currently registered to vote. Nearly all regular voters cast ballots in the 2004 presidential election; most say they “always” vote and that they are certain to vote in the upcoming congressional election. Together, they constitute roughly a third (35%) of the adult population.

Intermittent voters. All intermittent voters say they are registered to vote, but fewer acknowledge always voting. They report less certainty of voting in the upcoming election and less interest in the campaign compared with regular voters. Intermittent voters make up 20% of the population.

Registered but rare voters. About a quarter of Americans say they are registered to vote, but acknowledge that they rarely make it to the polls (23%). Fully three-quarters (76%) say they sometimes feel they don’t know enough about the candidates to vote.

Unregistered adults. These are Americans who say they are not registered to vote, or indicate their registration may have lapsed. They comprise 22% of the population.

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Buy it, madashelltoo, as distasteful and hard to swallow as it is, there are millions of would-vote-for-Obama eligible voters out there who aren't going to end up voting. I did a search on Yahoo -- "why people don't vote" -- and got a wealth of information. This article and link is just one of the many.

http://www.people-press.org/2006/10/18/who-votes-who-doesnt-and-why/

Bottom line: Obama and Dems in general have it within their grasp to achieve a landslide victory over Romney. But the "trick" is, we have to get out the vote. In my state, Oregon, we always vote Democratic. We vote by mail and have a very high percent of eligible voters actually casting a vote. But in many other states, getting the vote out is the ultimate challenge. Especially when the Republicans are doing everything possible to stop those votes from being cast. In those states, it is nothing less than WAR, and only a dedicated, hard-working, enthusiastic, passionate army of Democratic soldiers will win the battle.