Castle calling for ‘his’ voters to show up

The Delaware Congressman spent part of the day Monday shaking hands with people in downtown Wilmington, encouraging them to vote in Tuesday’s primary.

To get the necessary votes to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden, Congressman Mike Castle needs voters, more specifically his voters.

That’s why he spent much of the final day before Tuesday’s primary election shaking hands and convincing targeted Delawareans to get out and vote.

“The strategy going into Primary Day is to continue to identify our voters and to turn them out,” Castle said during a one-on-one interview with WHYY. “As everybody knows, primaries have a much lower turnout than general elections. So, we’re trying to inspire people to see fit to vote for me.”

Tuesday’s primary race in Delaware has gained national attention in the last week as Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell has picked up the financial backing of the Tea Party Express and the endorsement of Sarah Palin.

According to a new poll released by Public Policy Polling, O’Donnell is in a statistical dead heat with Castle, once the heavy favorite. O’Donnell was holding a three-point lead, 47 percent to 44 percent. The poll’s margin of error is 3.8 percent.

“I don’t mean to be critical of polls,” Castle said. “Our polling does show that I have a lead and I feel comfortable with that. A lot of this will depend upon turnout. And I’ll judge that better tomorrow (Tuesday) evening.”

On the final day before the primary, Castle’s final message is simple. He wants voters to look at his record.

Castle says his eight years as Delaware Governor and 18 as U.S. Representative give him the experience to get things done in Washington.

“I believe I have the ability to deliver that, to speak to people in both political parties and the White House,” he said.

The winner in Tuesday’s GOP primary between Castle and O’Donnell takes on Democrat Chris Coons in November’s general election.

WHYY and First has indepth interviews with both candidates.  We are also offering Delaware voters a chance to shape the issues with our Citizen Voices Forum.  Register for the first session in Middletown on September 22nd.