WHERE IS OBAMA'S HOPE?

Low numbers in Ohio

After all the buzz -- and litigation -- over an Ohio's law that allows voters to register and vote at the same time, the numbers are a bit underwhelming.

The AP reports that, in the end, only a relative handful of votes were cast in the last week, a rare bad sign for Democrats' turnout hopes:

A weeklong period in which Ohioans could register to vote and immediately cast a ballot ended Monday with turnout that didn't quite match the expectations of election officials — or the campaign predictions that preceded it.

Early returns showed about 3,000 voters in Ohio's four largest counties took advantage of the disputed policy, a surprisingly low turnout to some elections officials.

The window was expected to benefit Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, as his campaign and advocacy groups pushed Democratic-leaning groups such as college students and low-income voters to the polls.