Considering how toxic the political environment supposedly is for the Democrats, it might come as a surprise to find that in the key swing state of Florida -- which hosts an open seat Senate election this year -- new Democratic voter registration is outpacing new Republican voter registration by 43 percent.

Here's more, from a memo released this week by the Florida Democratic Party (.pdf):

Over the course of 2009, Floridians continued to join the Democratic Party in record numbers, ending the year with Democrats having a nearly 800,000 person voter registration advantage. According to the Florida Division of Election data, by registering 144,468 new voters last year, Democrats widened our advantage by 43,443 voters in 2009. As Democrats continued to out register Republicans every month since the 2008 election, this voter registration gap will continue to be a major advantage for Florida Democrats in 2010 and beyond.

Somehow, I'm sure, these numbers are good for the Republicans, who are on defense in the open seat Senate election and are further embroiled in a divisive primary to decide just who they will put forward as their nominee.