Posted on 10/30/2004 12:12:22 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Tightly contested Hawaii no lock for Kerry
HONOLULU (AP) — Cheering John Kerry supporters packed a high school auditorium Friday night to hear Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry's daughter Alexandra as Hawaii started looking like a battleground state.
"Four more days, four more days," they chanted, mocking the Republican chant of "four more years," before the featured speakers arrived.
Across town, Republicans filed into state GOP headquarters to pick up tickets for a near midnight Halloween visit by Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday.
A few weeks ago, Republican Gov. Linda Lingle was having a hard time selling the idea that Hawaii could play any real role in the presidential election. Now, she and leading Democrats are talking about the 50th state deciding a 50-50 race.
After two media polls early this week showed the local race dead even with up to 12 percent undecided, Hawaii is no longer a sure bet for Kerry.
Cheney, Gore, Kerry's elder daughter, former President Bill Clinton and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and Kerry himself all were playing roles as attention focused on Hawaii's previously ignored four electoral votes in the closing hours of a super-close national race.
Kerry gave satellite TV interviews to at least two Honolulu TV stations Friday. Clinton talked to four Hawaii TV reporters on Thursday, and McAuliffe planned a conference call with Hawaii reporters on Saturday in an effort to counter the impact of the Cheney visit.
"To see it as a battleground state, I'm not sure that's really true," said Juliet Begley, a 46-year-old researcher from Pearl City who was at Farrington High School to see Gore and Alexandra Kerry address a concert that was being turned into a Democratic campaign rally.
"But if they (the Republicans) want to believe it, that's fine. I'd like them to go ahead and spend their money," she said.
About 1,000 people packed the school's auditorium for the concert organized by Rep. Neil Abercrombie's re-election campaign, with dozens of Democratic supporters lining the street outside waving campaign signs as the state's top Democrats arrived at the rally.
Abercrombie dismissed the Republican plan to have Cheney rally support less than two days before polls open Tuesday.
Four electoral votes are at stake where polls close at the tail-end of a long national election day and the vote count is slow, with the first results not likely Tuesday until after midnight Eastern time.
If the count in the rest of the country somehow falls into place early and is as close as projected, Hawaii could put Bush over the top, Lingle said in announcing Cheney's visit.
Bush national campaign manager Ken Mehlman, in a phone call on Thursday informing Lingle of Cheney's visit, said he hoped the election is settled before Hawaii, but said the GOP considers the state winnable.
Even if Bush can't win Hawaii, stepping up the campaign in the islands and sending Cheney expands the map of close races and forces Kerry to divert money from Ohio and other bigger battlegrounds. Democrats already are running more TV and radio ads in the islands, while the GOP has been relying on national ads.
Mehlman said many Hawaii voters can also expect a call from the president's campaign this weekend.
Abercrombie at rallies also has been telling supporters they could put Kerry over the top.
No major party candidate on a national ticket has campaigned in Hawaii since Richard Nixon in 1960 — a race he lost to John F. Kennedy, with local pundits saying coming to the islands was one of Nixon's mistakes.
But Nixon went on to win Hawaii in his 1972 second-term victory. He, along with President Reagan in 1984, also winning a second term, are the only Republicans ever to take the state. Gore beat Bush in 2000 with an 18 percentage point lead.
"But if they (the Republicans) want to believe it, that's fine. I'd like them to go ahead and spend their money," she said.
Are liberals just born stupid or what? Kerry is also spending money, except he's having to spend it during the final week of the campaign in a state he thought he'd win by 10 or more points.
so only 1,000 for the Kerry team....how many for our side, anyone know?
great!
9:42 p.m. - if the time changes this Sunday night we'll be 5 hours behind Eastern, 2 behind California for the election (we stay on Standard time year-round). Right now we're 6 hours behind Eastern, 3 behind California.
Thanks!
And not to be redundant, but is this idiot stupid or what? The campaigns DON'T rely on public polls, they rely on their own. Otherwise the media would be sidetracking them on wild goose chases.
Which island? I've been surprised at the very few Kerry bumper stickers I've see this year, only 3 I can remember - I saw a lot more Gore stickers in Texas in 2000 and Hirono stickers here in Hawaii 2 years ago. I haven't seen any sign wavers in our part of Waipahu for Kerry either.
We were talking about that and the only thing we could figure was that--everyone just assumed the state was going to Kerry, so there wasn't a lot of "passion" in promoting either candidate, whichever side you supported.
CW, it couldn't have been said better! : )
That I assume is discounting the "out of state" plated cars? ; )
Lawyering an election should be a capital crime with express-lane punishment.
I've noticed it as well. I lived on post in 1996 and I commuted the freeways into downtown so I didn't see a lot of signs then, but I do remember a lot of sign wavers (as opposed to yard signs) with Clinton or Dole in Mililani when I'd drive through there. We were at Ft. Hood in 2000, back "home" now where we plan to stay. I haven't even seen the sign wavers out for either candidate this time around. Mike Buck commented, though, he saw a few pathetic souls waving Kerry signs at the University, but they weren't getting the usual honk or wave in return from anyone.
Yeah, we get a lot of folk driving out here from the West Coast (grin). A lot more since they built that bridge, LOL.
I was refering to Cheney's visit to Honolulu this Sunday.
BTW, wasn't Oahu always tilts to Dems? I remember Lingle lost to Cayetano because of Oahu, while she won in other islands. If I'm not wrong, the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin polls are only for Oahu. If that's true, doesn't it mean Bush actually is in even better position?
"To see it as a battleground state, I'm not sure that's really true," said Juliet Begley, a 46-year-old researcher from Pearl City who was at Farrington High School to see Gore and Alexandra Kerry address a concert that was being turned into a Democratic campaign rally.
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They're crapping bricks...
Sorry, I don't remember the particular island stats. I think Maui tends somewhat more Republican (Lingle was mayor there) but the Big Island is about RAT heaven. Remember Mink - the Asian Maxine Waters - represented all the rural parts of Oahu and all the other islands.
The stats are definitely interesting here - just when you think it's the most liberal state in the country the "definition of marriage" act wins quite decisively.
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