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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-25 10:47

HARRISBURG, Pa. - US Democratic Party enrollment surged past the 4 million mark Monday, setting a state record on the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in next month's presidential primary.

The figures, which showed modest declines in the ranks of Republicans and independents, reflected intense interest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and recruitment efforts by both candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

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Since last year's election, which featured races for judicial and municipal offices, the number of Democrats increased by more than 161,000, or more than 4 percent, to at least 4,044,952. No political party in the state had previously reached the 4 million threshold.

Registration in the GOP declined by about 1 percent, to 3,215,478 statewide.

The figures, released by state elections officials, did not include the final hours of voter registration in the state's 67 counties or mailed-in applications, which will count as long as they are postmarked Monday.

The largest percentage gains were concentrated in the Philadelphia suburbs and the state's central region, mostly in counties where Republicans still outnumber Democrats.

Of the more than 8.2 million Pennsylvania voters, more than 120,000 are people who were not previously registered to vote.

With four weeks remaining until the April 22 primary, Clinton retains a strong lead over Obama in Pennsylvania. A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month showed Clinton favored by 53 percent of likely Democratic voters, and Obama by 41 percent.

The business of registering Pennsylvanians to vote was brisker than ever in many counties on the last day to sign up.

"We had people at the counter long before we opened up" Monday morning, said Joseph Passarella, director of voter services in Montgomery County, which is among the suburban Philadelphia counties that have seen large increases in Democratic enrollment as the nomination battle continues.

Only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in the primary, which also includes candidates for nominations for the statewide row offices, Congress and the state Legislature.

At the Luzerne County elections office in Wilkes-Barre, Director Leonard Piazza III said the pace Monday was "very brisk," including hundreds of fresh applications dropped off by the Clinton and Obama campaigns.

"This is more like what we see in November" for general elections, he said.