Julie Bornstein, Democratic candidate for California's 45th Congressional District in Riverside County, needs a big turnout in Moreno Valley to defeat incumbent U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs), according to campaign manager Walter Ludwig.

"Moreno Valley's completely key for us," Ludwig said. "It's got the most people in the district and the most Democrats, and historically it's been a pretty low turnout place. Obama's an 'x-factor' there. It's 24 percent African American, and we think turnout is going to be pretty enormous. We have most of our poll watching people deployed there."

In addition to Moreno Valley, Ludwig thinks "Blythe is really important. It's a 50-50 registration place. If we start to see Blythe going toward Julie I think we're going to be in pretty good shape."

Ludwig also anticipated huge turnout numbers in Palm Springs due to the city's large gay community.

"We'd like to see turnout in Palm Springs up in the 90's and we think we can because of Prop. 8," Ludwig said of the ballot measure that would ban gay marriage. "We think for the first time Mary Bono Mack will not get a good percentage of the gay vote."

Lastly, Ludwig said the campaign is counting on low turnout in the Republican strongholds of Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

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