Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna American Reporter Correspondent February 5, 2008 Back to home page Printable version of this story DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. The 88-year-old former election judge said she's going to show up even if she has to go alone; it's a far cry from the days when she used to have the caucus in her own home. 88-year-old Pearl Rurner will cast her vote for a handsome Mitt Romney at the Colorado caucuses on this Super Tuesday night in Denver. She showed her candidate her official contributor's card. AR Photo: Tony Manna She still lives there, 57 years later, in a neighborhood where Spanish- speaking Democrats have replaced white Republicans, on the same street which used to be one precinct and is now split into two, with the dividing line right down the middle of the street. "I was going to call a friend to see if she wants to go with me," the 1934 graduate of Denver's East High School told The American Reporter, "but if that doesn't work out, I'll go alone." A lifetime Republican, and a Baptist, Pearl remembers debating politics with her Democratic father. "Daddy and I would go on for hours when Herbert Hoover and Al Smith were the (1928) candidates. I didn't find out until after my father died that my mother was a Republican. She never said a word." Last Friday, Pearl endured traffic and the crush of an overflow crowd, as well as a long walk through ice and slush, to get a chance to meet Romney, one of the Republican Paty's presidential front-runners. Neither the American Right To Life Action group screaming "Mitt funds abortions" in front of their graphic billboard-size photos of aborted fetuses, nor the We Are Change protestors calling for a new investigation into the 9/11 tragedy dampened her glee at meeting her candidate. Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney's striking good looks caught the eye of Pearl Turner, 88. He appeared at Denver's Freeway Ford before about 1,500 people, a thousand more than expected, in sub-freezing weather. AR Photo: Tony Manna "I showed him my card (a Mitt Romney contributor identification card) and he said 'Oh, you're one of my true supporters,'" Pearl told a reporter. "I was able to shake his hand! My, he is a handsome man." A volunteer for 34 years in the Denver School District, Pearl Turner's recollections stand in sharp contrast to present-day campaigns. Today, during Super Tuesday, voters will be able speak into their cell phones and have their words instantly transferred to text messages through a new technology called voice-to-text messaging, set to become one of the hottest communication trends of 2008, according to Trendhunter Magazine's 2008 Trend Report. A partnership between voice-to-text provider SpinVox and New York City public radio station WNYC, the technology will provide listeners a real-time sample of of voter comments and opinions as they exit the polls in all the primary states. According to SpinVox vice-president of consumer marketing Beverly Wilkes, the new technology provides "not just results, but reasons for voting - a dialogue during morning drive time." For now, Pearl Turner relies on plain talk with anyone who will listen. "I'm impressed with Mitt because he has a lot of experience," she said. "Any Republican who can win an election in a Democratic state like Massachusetts has some talent. The way he handled the Olympics, pulling all those volunteers together, was amazing!" Copyright 2008 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.