1) The % of eligible voters who voted *was* the highest since 1964 - it was a recent record even if the (preliminary estimated) margin is relatively small.
2) Democrats increased their share of the vote compared to 2004 in huge areas of the country (see, e.g. http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=13515 )
3) The report doesn't count California and Oregon and those are places that most benefit from "convenience voting".
4) In my quick scan, it's not at all clear to me how they determined Republican turnout. Did they compare the Republican vote to Republican registrations? Does the simple fact that the Republican share of the vote dropping mean that they sat on their hands, or does it mean that they voted for the Democrat, or something else? How do they distinguish these things, and how is it bad if a R votes for a D ("R turnout is down so Obama didn't really change things!")?

IOW, they seem to me to be spinning the report's findings, and the report seems to be spinning the numbers to some extent. But read it yourself:

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/06/pdf.gansre08turnout.au.pdf

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.