Thousands Of Voters Change Party Affiliation
By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

TAMPA - Some are inspired.

Some are strategy plotters.

Others are downright mad.

Thousands of Bay area voters have switched their party affiliations since Aug. 25, when the Democratic National Committee voted to strip Florida of its delegates to the nominating convention.

Florida's sin?

Holding a presidential preference primary Jan. 29, a week before national party rules allow.

For some switchers, the DNC penalty prompted them to move to the Republican Party. The national GOP's spanking wasn't quite so heavy-handed. Florida Republicans will lose half of their convention delegates for jumping ahead in the calendar.

"Having my vote count for half of something is better than voting for nothing," said Jerry Johnson, 56, a retired chef who switched his registration Dec. 28 - from Democrat to Republican - at a Seminole Heights public library.

That made Johnson one of at least 1,216 Democrats in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties to switch to the GOP since Aug. 25.

He'll switch back, after committing some political strategy in the GOP primary:

"I'm going to vote for the least electable Republican," Johnson said. "I'm thinking Ron Paul."

The Texas congressman's faithful followers most certainly would disagree with that description. Many local party-switchers said he inspired them to move to the GOP.

Ward Sexton, 51, a former Libertarian, is one. He switched his registration at a Ron Paul rally in his hometown of Clearwater last month. He likes Paul's tough-on-immigration platform, which includes denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

"I don't care if we have to put guys with rifles on every border every 20 feet," Sexton said. "They gotta shut those borders down."

Nathan Moschkin, 31, a Valrico computer programmer, downloaded a registration form from the Internet two weeks ago to switch from no party affiliation to the GOP.

"For one reason: to vote for Ron Paul," Moschkin said. He likes Paul's anti-deficit, anti-policing-the-world talk.

GOP candidate Mitt Romney inspired a fan in Palm Harbor to switch parties.

Jeff Rickel, 29, tossed aside his independent status to become a Republican in August.

The draw of the former Massachusetts governor?

"In Massachusetts, even though he didn't always have to agree with the Democrats, he had to work with them," said Rickel, a manager with Domino's Pizza. "He was able to win Massachusetts with a heavy Democratic population. I think he's somebody who can bring together a lot of people."

Some Switched As Protest

In all, 5,634 Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas voters have switched to the Republican Party since Aug. 25. An additional 6,369 switched to the Democratic Party, including Carlos Venegas, who lives near Brandon.

Venegas, 71, switched from independent to Democrat last week.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson - former congressman, energy secretary and U.N. ambassador - inspired him.

"I really wanted to vote my convictions for Bill Richardson, a fellow Mexican-American," said Venegas, a partner in a scrap-metal recycling business. "I think he has a lot of experience in the diplomatic area. He seems like the type that wants to negotiate positions, while a lot of these candidates in both parties seem to be, 'It's my way or the highway' and that's why we're not getting a lot done in Congress."

Many of the party-switchers weren't so inspired by the candidates - or their parties.

They joined the opposing party as a protest.

Stephen Johnson did that. He was a die-hard Republican for most of his 64 years, and president of the Young Republicans in college.

The war in Iraq got his dander up. The deficit did, too.

So last week, Johnson marched to the elections office in Pinellas County to become a Democrat. He was one of at least 1,007 Republicans to make the switch to Democrat in the tri-county area.

There's some strategy involved for the retired Price Waterhouse purchasing director.

"I feel like the Democratic Party is going to win. I want to have a voice in who wins," said Johnson, who has narrowed his primary candidate down to Barack Obama or John Edwards. "I would have a very difficult time voting for Hillary. I just don't like her and her husband. They're more of the Washington inside crowd. I want change."

Kathy Macks gets that sentiment. She's 56 and was a Democrat for 35 years.

Then she got angry. She was upset when the liberal anti-war group Moveon.org took out a full-page ad in The New York Times in mid-September, as the commander of multinational forces in Iraq testified before Congress. Its headline: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"

Macks was angry that many Democratic leaders didn't condemn the ad.

"Politics aside, they're our military. And I certainly stand by the men and women over there," said Macks, who also is upset at DNC Chairman Howard Dean for the August decision to punish Florida.

The Petraeus ad sent her over the edge. She downloaded a registration form from the Internet in October and switched to the GOP.

Now, she's contemplating moderates as her primary choice: John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. She's leaning toward McCain. She likes the Arizona senator for his sponsorship of an immigration bill that would have led to the legalization of millions of illegal immigrants.

Macks is an accounting manager for the local Applebee's franchise of 37 restaurants.

"I know how difficult it is to get restaurant employees as far as kitchen help," she said. "I think a guest worker program of some sort would help. And the people that are here now, a lot of them work so hard. I can't see them having to be all sent back."

Man Wanted To Fight Extremism

Like Macks, Bill Tenbroeck of St. Petersburg was upset with the DNC move to strip Florida of its delegates.

The longtime Democrat switched to the GOP a couple of years ago. The 53-year-old hadn't changed philosophy. He just saw what he called "extreme" Republican candidates running and he wanted to counteract that by voting for moderates in the primaries.

After the DNC move, he almost decided to stay Republican and do the same this year. Then he spoke to a woman who wrote on a Democratic blog.

She told him that Democratic primary votes in Florida - even if they didn't count at the convention - would serve as momentum for the winning candidate in other states. She told him the nominee likely would try to restore Florida's convention delegates.

She convinced him.

Tenbroeck went to a St. Petersburg library last week to switch back to Democrat.

He thinks he'll vote for Edwards: "He's on the right track with the emphasis on reining in corporate America."

1,942 Voters Drop Affiliations

There are others - many others - who think none of the candidates or parties are on the right track.

John Lee of Holiday is one. He's annoyed with the parties. All of them.

Four years ago, he dropped his lifelong GOP registration to become a Libertarian. When he moved to Pasco last month, he dropped the Libertarian label, too. He's one of the growing number of people who prefer no party affiliation at all.

He doesn't care if that means he can't vote in a presidential primary.

Lee is one of 1,942 Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas residents who dropped their party affiliations for none at all.

"I feel that neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties has a clue about what concerns me," said Lee, 59, who owns a screen-printing and embroidered T-shirt business.

"I don't think politicians care anymore what we want. I was a Republican since the day I could vote. I couldn't wait until Republicans were in complete control of the House and the Senate and the presidency. And when that happened, I couldn't believe how fast they could mess this up."

He's upset with former Gov. Jeb Bush for intervening in the Terry Schiavo case. He's really upset about the war in Iraq.

Lee so dislikes the choices that he may back someone who's not on the November ballot at all.

"I might even write in Stephen Colbert," Lee chuckled at the thought of voting for the Comedy Central satirist who flirted with a presidential bid. "He's the only one that makes sense. I'm really disenchanted."

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