Republicans and Democrats rally for votes

It’s the final weekend before the Nov. 6 election, and both the Republican and Democratic parties in eastern Idaho plan to campaign in full force for one last push of votes.

Jonathan Haines, co-chair of the Bonneville County Republicans, said, “It’s a strategic approach, because a lot of people who get information too early, they just set it down and forget about it. So the idea is in the last 72 hours to do a real big push and remind everyone to get out and vote.”

Haines said local Republicans had a lot of energy behind Mitt Romney and they plan to be out around town dropping off literature, holding signs and making final calls to push for votes to choose the Republican ticket from presidency to the county seats.

“We’re encouraging people to vote Republican so we can have a straight line of communication and continuity. So we can have our state Legislature and our country guys work hand-in-hand with what the president is trying to do, should the president be Mitt Romney,” said Haines.

As for the Democratic party in eastern Idaho, they’re planning to step up their campaigning after learning lessons from the past.

“Two years ago, we felt we left out a serious number of Democrats sitting at home thinking their vote didn’t count, and we lost races that we could havewon so we’re trying to contact Democrats and other supporters and encouraging them to go out and vote,” said Dennis Sutton, chairman of the Bonneville County Democrats.

The Democratic committee plans to encourage voters to choose the Democratic ticket by calling as many people it can this weekend.

Voters who chose Obama in 2008 and are reluctant to vote for him again, Sutton said.

“Stay the course, because the values we had in ’08 are still the values on the table today,” Sutton said. “Even though we got interrupted with the financial collapse from the last group of rights, we still have that goal to put everything together and we’ve got a lot of work to do. … Even though you only have one vote, that one vote counts, and it counts big and use your voice and get out and be heard.”

Both the Republican and Democratic parties of Bonneville County will be holding watch parties Tuesday night at their headquarters in downtown Idaho Falls and encourage everyone to stop by.