Exit polls show signs that Limbaugh's minions turned out for Clinton Nick Juliano

Published: Tuesday May 6, 2008



|

Print This Email This Rush Limbaugh would like little more than to see Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama keep fighting each other for at least the next month, if not until the Democratic Convention itself. Before the Texas and Ohio primaries in early March, the conservative talker began encouraging listeners to cross over and cast ballots for Clinton in Democratic primaries. At the very least, he figured, the Democrats would keep fighting each other and let GOP nominee John McCain float above the fray. In perhaps his most optimistic scenario, Clinton would grab the nomination, giving the right another crack at one of their favorite foes in a general election campaign. Limbaugh dubbed his scheme "Operation Chaos," and plenty of signs were emerging Tuesday evening that it was working, especially in Indiana, where Clinton appeared headed for a slim victory. Exit polls conducted by the major news networks showed an unusually high number of Clinton supporters planned to vote for McCain in the fall and felt the former first lady did not share their values. Indiana exit polls showed that four in ten Democrats who said they would vote for McCain over Clinton in a general election nonetheless voted for Clinton on Tuesday; however, just twelve percent who would vote for McCain over Obama voted for the Illinois senator. Citing this figure, the Obama campaign sent an e-mail to reporters Tuesday night arguing that 7 percent of the Indiana electorate could be attributed to the "Limbaugh effect" -- 41 percent of the 17 percent who said they'd vote for McCain over Clinton but still supported Clinton. A similar discrepancy was evident in North Carolina exit polls. Evidence of meddling Republicans also presented itself when they were asked which candidate shared their values. A third of Indianans said Clinton did not share their values, yet twenty percent of those voters still supported the New York senator. A similar portion said Obama did not share their values, but only seven percent of those voters supported him in the primary. The discrepancy was smaller in North Carolina, but voters there also were more likely to support Clinton despite believing that she didn't share their values. Of the ten percent of Indiana voters who thought neither Clinton nor Obama shared their values, three in four cast ballots for Clinton. On his show Tuesday afternoon, as Indiana and North Carolina voters were heading to the polls, Limbaugh crowed about early reports of his success. "I have also been receiving field reports via email today ... from people, commandos, operatives, reporting that they have followed orders and fulfilled their duty. Nobody's been challenged. The Indiana voters all say that they have not been challenged, and they were hoping to be," he said. "In fact, some of the people show up and they ask for a Democrat ballot, and the poll worker says, 'Why, what are you going to do?' He says, 'Operation Chaos,' and they just laugh. 'Oh, is that what's going on here?' one poll worker said." Along with the exit polls, anecdotal evidence was emerging that it was having at least some effect. Crooks & Liars blogger SilentPatriot was less convinced of Limbaugh's effectiveness based on another piece of exit poll data. "The way it's looking now, Republicans, who account for 11% of the entire Indiana electorate, have voted for Hillary by the same margin that the entire state has," they wrote. "Stick to ruining your own party, Rush. Lord knows you've done a fantastic job at that." The Huffington Post's Sam Stein saw a few possible explanations for the exit poll data. "A) Clinton's support in Indiana, while clearly there, is not entirely solid; B) a large swath of Indiana primary goers simply didn't like the nominees and thought of Clinton as the lesser of two evils; or C) Limbaugh's hatchet plan could be having political ripples," he wrote, adding that each factor could be having some effect.