Turnout
The Iraqi election, as far as this administration was concerned, was just another campaign-style event where they manage the message. Perception is reality and what is said first, loudest and most often is what creates the perception. What I am speaking about specifically is the voter turnout in Iraq. As this article shows, Officials Back Away from Early Estimates of Iraqi Voter Turnout, the number has been going down since it was originally announced to be 72% and later revised down to 57%. But as the article says there is no reason to worry because the SCLM is on the case (sarcasm of course):

For three days now, the press has routinely referred to the figure of 8 million Iraqi voters, following the lead of Farid Ayar, the spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq. In the original press citations, what Ayar actually said (hedging his bets) was "as many as 8 million," which most in the media quickly translated as "about 8 million," and then, inevitably, "8 million."

Curiously, the day before the election, according to press reports, Ayar had predicted that 7 to 8 million would turn out, giving him some incentive to later spot the numbers in that neighborhood.

Also, one dares to ask: If the commission expected close to 8 million, and that's what happened -- and there was less violence on election day than anticipated -- why was the turnout greeted as such a surprise? Especially since U.S. and Iraqi leaders have spent months knocking the press for failing to report that the vast majority of regions in this country are safe and friendly.

The percentage of turnout supplied by Ayar came to 57% (happily rounded off by the press to 60%). This was based on what was described as 14 million potential voters divided by those 8 million who braved the potential bullets and bombs to go to the polls.

On Sunday, while hailing the millions going to the polls, I also raised questions about the 14 million eligible figure: was that registered voters, or all adults over 18, or what? Few on TV or in print seem to be quite sure, to this day.

It's a big difference. Since Sunday, countless TV talking heads, such as Chris Matthews, and print pundits have compared the Iraq turnout favorably to U.S. national elections, not seeming to understand that 80%-90% of our registered voters usually turn out. The problem in our country is that so few people bother to register, bringing our overall turnout numbers way down.

Logic and hard questioning really shed light on this. Wouldn't it be nice if the media tried this? So you see last Sunday and Monday is when the turnout was first spoken of the loudest and most often and which was also the time it will be given the most attention. Never will there be a time when the true turnout numbers will be discussed with such undivided attention. It will be mentioned by pundits under their breath as they head to commercial break, "..and by the way, as (insert liberal name here) said, the turn out was actually lower than first reported. Back in a moment." A good number had to be reported initially and in time for the SOTU for it to have it's maximum effect. Don't worry some day we will all find out what the real turnout was as election commission member Safwat Rashid tells us, "Only God Almighty knows the final turnout now". Well maybe our President can find out for us the next time God is telling him what to do.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 8:25 AM