Diary of a Dearborn Democrat - Behind the Delicious #s

Dearborn has had a reputation as a bell-weather community in state and federal elections, sometimes voting for Democrats and sometimes for Republicans. We've sent both Ds and Rs to Lansing over the the years, and voters have put both strong Ds and strong Rs in non-partisan local office. . . .Well, the Nov. 6 Election has changed all at - at least for now. . . DEARBORN IS CLEARLY A DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD --- In this election, Democrat Barack Obama won more than 66% of the vote in Dearborn, even exceeding his 2008 performance of 65%.  Mitt Romney, the Republican, managed only 32% of the vote despite a pretty decent local campaign - a point less than John McCain took here four years ago even after his  team abandoned Michigan. OBAMA CARRIED EVERY PRECINCT IN DEARBORN BUT ONE BOTH ELECTIONS. (The lone GOP "bastion," if you call it that, is precinct 41 at Haigh School, but even that precinct went blue for Senator Stabenow, Congressman Dingell, State Rep. Darany, County Commissioner Woronchak and other Ds who swept every precinct.) - - - Voters in #41 plunked for six of the eight GOP state education boards and for all three party nominated Supreme Court candidates. Only a handful of other precincts, 32 at First Presbyterian, 41 at Haigh, 43 at Dearborn High, 44 at Duvall and 48 at Nowlin gave top votes to ANY down-ballot Republicans. . . .On the other hand, Democrats swept everywhere else - in all parts of town. - - - I LOVE ANALYZING THIS STUFF, PARTICULARLY WHEN THE DATA IS SO PRO-DEMOCRAT! - - - Here is a list of factoids I pulled together to warm the heart of any Dearborn Democrat on a cold night:  Obama carried East Dearborn with 89%, up 2% from 2008, he carried NW Dearborn with 57%, up 1% from 2008, SW  Dearborn with 60%, up 1% from 2008, and Absentee Ballots with 55%, up 2% from 2008. . . . Obama carried every precinct but one (49 of 50) and every voting location (33). . . .At Salina School, Obama won 97% of the vote! He carried 9 voting sites with 90%+, 6 sites between 80-90%, 8 sites between 60-70% and 10 sites between 50-60%. . . .The Obama vote improved over 2008 by percentage in 22 of 33 sites and stayed the same in another 5. The biggest improvements were at these locations: Snow (+6%), Bryant (+5%) and Miller and Whitmore-Bolles (both up 4%). . . . The highest Obama vote by precinct was 786 at Lowrey #7, followed by 759 at St. Alphonsus #3. The highest Obama vote by location was scored at McDonald, 1151, followed by Woodworth, 1007 votes. . . .The poorest East Dearborn D performance was 55% at Henry Ford Village #13, with the next poorest being 80% at St. Joseph's (we'll take that any day!). The poorest NW Dem performance was #41 at Haigh, the only loss, 47% (next: 52% at DHS #43 and 54% at Divine Child #39). The poorest SW Dem performance was 51% at #44 at Duvall, followed by 56% at Nowlin (again, not too shabby!). . . . Obama got 987 fewer votes here than he won in 2008, but Romney got 1029 fewer votes than McCain, so turnout was not a huge deciding factor. . . .When factoring in all presidential votes cast (I used just R-D matchups above), Obama won 65.1% of the Dearborn vote in 2008 and 66.22% this year - a slight improvement, while the comparable R numbers went from 32.8% to 32.1% (drip drip drip). . . . .Straight party ballots were cast by 15,795 Democrats (75.7%), only 4712 Republicans (22.6%) and 361 others (1.7%). . . . Democrats Stabenow, Dingell, Darany, Worthy, Napoleon, Wojtowicz, Youngblood and Woronchak carried 50 of 50 precincts, Obama and Clerk Garrett carried all but one #41). Democratic state education board candidates won in all but 12 of 400 opportunities (6 losses in #41, 2 each in #44 and 48 and 1 each in #32 and 43. - - - So, although they did not win all their endorsed non-partisan judicial races and favored position on some ballot questions, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Nov. 6, 2012 was a very good day for Democrats in Dearborn!