The 2 Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President?

The 2 Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President Rush Limbaugh - Ed Morrissey's Book Kicks Ass

Genevieve Wood / April 18, 2016

There may be over 300 million people living in America, but a new book makes the case that it’s the 2 million living in just seven battleground counties that will ultimately decide who our next president will be.

In “Going Red,” conservative columnist and HotAir senior editor Ed Morrissey weaves together both the data and the stories of people and leaders in these communities to answer the most pressing questions facing conservatives who want to win in 2016 and beyond.

https://youtu.be/akg-vage1RA 0:05 edge of a brand new book at your first book called going red and it's all about 0:09 basically not just the battleground states but the battleground counties 0:13 that the cheap political parties really will be fighting over how to pick those 0:17 out well I got some data on which counties used to be republican and moved 0:23 to the Democratic column in 2008 2012 in some of these counties they were 0:28 republican for decades Hamilton County Ohio for instance was the most 0:32 republican county in Ohio for years and years and years eighty years and then in 0:38 2008 it went for Barack Obama over John McCain and Barack Obama again in 2012 so 0:44 you ask yourself how did the most Republican of Ohio counties simply vote 0:50 for Barack Obama what happened I just one time but twice right choice not a 0:54 fluke very much not a fluke and it's true of all seven battleground counties 0:59 that are featuring going red is that these are not flukes they are 1:03 opportunities that were grabbed by Barack Obama and Democrats in 2008 and 1:08 2012 in that were missed by republicans in both cycles in areas by the way we 1:13 republicans still tend to win state and local elections but what's amazing you 1:17 said you at the UN to these County I get talked to activists you talk to voters 1:20 you talk to elected officials many of which are republicans argue like 1:25 happened you when and John McCain lost or Mitt Romney loss what was it was 1:30 their answer was multi-layered first off the Obama campaign and they emphasize 1:38 that was the Obama campaign and other Democrats just had a superior 1:41 organization had a superior mission which was to try to connect with people 1:45 on a neighborhood level and not just to rack up Facebook Likes and and and 1:51 Twitter followers because I think republicans missed the point of this 1:55 granular micro targeting effort that Barack Obama was to get to know what was 2:00 important to people in each of these neighborhoods find ways to contextualize 2:04 their agenda and to make them make an emotional connection with these voters 2:09 it saying this is a guy who understands what it's like to be me and I'm going to 2:15 give them a shot at fixing the problems that that I see it 2:18 my community and so the local Republicans on the ground running 2:21 actually did that when republicans argue that there will be no their constituents 2:26 they know their constituents they know how to talk to people who aren't 2:30 necessarily even their constituents but they can reach out to different parts of 2:34 different communities when they are able to do so and prisons in South 2:38 Hillsborough County and run the University of South Florida for some 2:42 precincts that are heavily african-american and Shawn Harrison 2:45 whose the state representative for that district told me you wanted 2010 he lost 2:50 in 2012 in part because he did it he sort of relied on his natural base 2:56 within the within the district and he was flummoxed when the Obama model 3:01 turned out instead of his normal turnout he wanted in 2014 but in 2014 what he 3:05 also did was he went into those color precincts around University of South 3:09 Florida heavily african-american preachings even though he was being told 3:13 by people don't bother you're not getting any traction they're wasting 3:17 your time he says not a waste time to go in and talk to talk to people who you're 3:21 gonna end up representing and he built relationships with people in this 3:25 community said he didn't Windows 3:27 I mean really come close but he did a lot better in those precincts that he 3:32 had done in 2012 generally and he actually won a pretty impressive victory   Rush Limbaugh - Ed Morrissey's Book Kicks Ass April 19, 2016

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RUSH: Get this, 75% of the votes in the Democrat primary will come from New York City, the five boroughs.  Seventy-five percent of the votes in the Republican primary will not come from Manhattan or the five boroughs.  They'll come from -- what do you call it, outstate, upstate, places like Binghamton.  Always love pronouncing it that way.  But is that just tells you who lives where. 

The Democrat primary, 75% of all votes cast will come from New York City.  All the boroughs except Staten Island which is reliably ours, but still a lot of Democrats there, but it's fascinating that the vast majority of votes in the Republican primary -- there be some from New York City, of course, but most of them from outstate.  Fascinating little stat that I had not looked at it that way -- (interruption) upstate, outstate -- well, outside the city, is what I mean.  And I think everybody knows what I mean.  Why are you nitpicking here? 

Look, what do you think I'm doing?  My version of New York values here?  I'm not trying to insult anybody.  I'm just trying to categorize geographically various aspects the state. Outcity, how about that, outcity?  Outstate, upstate.  Everybody knows what I mean here. 

Anyway, folks, two or three things here before we get into the meat and potatoes of things today.  First thing I want to tell you about is Ed Morrissey. He has a book out, he asked me to blurb it.  I read the book and I wrote back, "Ed, this book's gonna kick ass," and that's my blurb. (laughing) That's the blurb on the cover of his book. 

Ed Morrissey is a blogger.  He started his own blog, Captain's Quarters, and ended up merging with HotAir.com.  It's a great blog site.  It actually is.  It's really diverse.  But Ed is one of the intellectual leaders over there with a couple of others.  And he's written a book called "Going Red." It's about how conservatives can win, and there are a lot of those books, but his take on this is fascinating, and I just wanted to mention it to you. 

The book is out recently, "Going Red."  It's not about communism; it's about red states versus blue states.  But his point is that two million voters are going to determine who wins the presidency.  Two million voters in seven counties across the country.  I'm not gonna tell you which counties.  One of the counties is in Ohio, one's in Florida, one's in Colorado.  But that's as far as I'm going to go. 

They are seven battleground counties in swing states that the Republicans have to win if the Republicans, and, more importantly, conservatives are going to win this presidential election.  Every one of these seven counties voted for Obama in one or both of the last two elections.  But all of these seven counties are now battleground, meaning up for grabs because of how bad the Obama administration has been.  And the door is open in these important seven counties for Republicans to win them, and if they do, it is Ed Morrissey's theory here, that they will thus win the presidency. 

And it's important to deal a blow... I mean, these seven counties, again, went for Obama in either 2008 or 2012. And if they go Republican, it would be a massive, massive slap in the face to the left.  The book is more than that; it tells you what went wrong in 2008 and 2012 and what needs to change.  Virginia is one of the states where one of the counties is, obviously.  But it's a fascinating read; as I say, the book is kick ass.  That ended up being my blurb, and I just wanted to mention to you.

You know, Ed was named Blogger of the Year at CPAC two or three years ago, and they asked me, of course, to do the official introduction via videotape. And I did. Ed said it was one of the most impressive and meaningful days of his life, which I was very appreciative of and I understood as well. And I think that his book is something that a lot of you will enjoy. It's not just for wonks, but, I mean, this is pretty specific.  And, by the way, don't get depressed.  This is not meant to depress you that the election depends on seven counties. 

It's just his take on it, sort of like the theory on the Electoral College.  The Democrats start out with 200 votes in the Electoral College, just because whoever their candidate is has a D next to their name, which means they automatically win New York and automatically win California.  That's big.  If they ever get Texas, it's over, if they hold onto New York and California.  Then you throw Trump into this mix -- and presuming that if he's the nominee, what does he do?

Does he upset that and put New York in play, for example?  You know, the polling data on the New York primary today, if we are to believe it, says Trump is gonna win in a bigger landslide than any of the polling data had suggested up 'til now. And if something like that happens and you're talking about another momentum shift -- which I think the New York media is already beginning to establish as their narrative, that the momentum shifted.

Even though Cruz is just killing it with all these delegate battles, the New York media (which is Trump-centric) is trying to shift the narrative now.  And like I say, we've been in a lull.  We've had some days go by here where there hasn't been anything to talk about, no hard results.  All we've had is theory, predictions, analysis. But now we're gonna get some more hard results that are also called votes, and that will shift the coverage on a dime, and that will start tonight.

Two more things I wanted to mention.  Another book.  Pete Hegseth.  You might have seen Pete Hegseth on Fox now and then.  He's a contributor.  He has a book coming out on May 3rd. I'll have more on that as we approach the date, because it's really good.  And, as they say in the book world, "It's important as well."  

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