'Perfect storm' draws thousands to Demo voting in WA

[maddezmom]

February 7, 2004

Democrats in Kitsap County and across the state predicted a record turnout for caucuses today, as a struggling Howard Dean pits his passionate "Deaniacs" against a bandwagon effect for John Kerry, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

A state party spokeswoman, Kirstin Brost, said the turnout could top the 100,000 mark for the first time, testament to a "perfect storm" of activists anxious to dump President Bush and the drama of the Dean-Kerry clash.

~snip~

Typically, caucuses attract only the most politically active, with perhaps 20,000 people attending. Democratic state Chairman Paul Berendt said attendance could top 100,000. The party's Web site, including a caucus site-finder and explanatory material, has gotten over 70,000 "hits" this week, Brost said.

"Democrats are energized and want to be part of the process of getting rid of Bush from the White House," she said. "It is a perfect storm -- all this energy and frustration with Bush and, at the same time, Washington state could be key in deciding who his successor will be."

More:http://www.thesunlink.com/breaking/396192.shtml

One way or another all these high turnouts are good news for the Dems. :)

[MaineDem]

1. Excellent!

These record turnouts will be a thorn in the BFEE's side. I hope the trend continues up through November - and beyond!

[oasis]

2. Chimpy, your ride aboard the gravy train is coming to a screeching halt.

The people will speak with a loud voice this November.

[DifferentStrokes]

3. First thing I read on DU today

Thanks. This is very reassuring.

"Perfect storm", eh.:-)

[maddezmom]

4. One thing is for sure ~ the Dems are fired up this year!

:)

[Southsideirish]

5. Ya, HD fired 'em up - was the first Dem to spit in the giant's eye.

Then the "Johnny-come-lately's" jumped on and the ordinary folks got scared that HD was a little too out-spoken and passionate so they (so far) opted for the safe bets but Howard is the one who ventured in where angels feared to tred and history will long remember that.

[WilliamPitt]

6. "Johnny-come-lately's"

Ya mean...voters?

[Upfront]

14. No

He means candidates!!!!!!!

[ozone_man]

11. Johnny (Kerry) come lately's.

Special interest politicians that were hiding behind Bush, until Howard made it safe to come out. You have hit the nail on the head, and there is hope that the general public will come to that realization before it is too late.

[CalProf]

20. April 4th, 2003. Yeah, hiding behind Bush.

Kerry Angers GOP in Calling For 'Regime Change' in U.S.


By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2003; Page A10



Republicans jumped on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) yesterday in the wake of reports that the Democratic presidential candidate had told a New Hampshire audience that "we need a regime change in the United States."

<snip>

Kerry said that, after talking to foreign diplomats and world leaders recently, he had concluded that "it will take a new president" to repair the damage Bush has done because other leaders are not "going to trust this president, no matter what."


"What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," Kerry said.


House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) led the chorus of GOP critics who attacked Kerry for challenging Bush during wartime. "Senator Kerry's remark, equating regime change in Iraq with regime change in the United States, is not what we need at this time," Hastert said. "What we need is for this nation to pull together, to support our troops and to support our commander in chief."

[cmf]

7. Heck yeah.

I'm about to head out to breakfast before going to the caucus. We're in Kitsap Co., too. I think the turnout is going to be huge. I personally know a lot of people going. My husband put up tons of flyers last week, so I hope they spurred a few more likely caucus goers to turn out.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

8. This heavy turnout means we're going to destroy Bush in the GE

We should start concentrating on Congress now.

[redsoxliberal]

9. From the Washingtoners

any gut feelings on the outcome?

[Johnyawl]

10. I think Dean will do well in the Seattle metro area...

...and possibly the eastside hitech areas. I think Kerry will do well every where else, and if it's close in Seattle he may win the state. The Puget Sound area has an active union membership (they'll all be there) and a hell of a lot of veterans.

This should have been a good state for Clark (large numbers of active duty & retired military), but I haven't seen anything of his organization.

[rucky]

12. The calls I made to Clark county...

mostly undecided. mostly attending the caucus.

[corporatistRule]

13. Seattle 43 district Caucus

I just returned from my caucus in the 43 district #2049 in Seattle.

Four years ago there were 12 people… Today there were 58!!!

Results:

Dean 3 delegates

Kucinich 1 delegate

Kerry 1 delegate

Everybody came together and promised to show up and vote against Bush in November regardless who the eventual nominee.

[flamingyouth]

15. There were 72 in my precinct!

I'm also in the 43rd! :hi:

Could you believe how packed that room was? It was amazing!

[Jax]

16. It was great!!!

44th District. My precint turned out 3 Dean delegates and 1 Kucinich.

About 300 people or so at Lake Stevens High.

Jax

[kurtyboy]

17. HUGE HUGE HUGE

I just got back from my caucus location---12 precincts had about 20 people at the last (2000) caucus. This year, 178!

We awarded 75 delegates between the twelve precincts. Here's the breakdown:

Kerry 47 (63%)
Dean 13 (17%)
Kucinich 8 (11%)
Edwards 4 (5%)
Clark 2 (3%)
Sharpton 0
Lieberman 0
Uncommitted 1 (1%)

I live in Mount Vernon, and this represents about 1/3 of our city's precincts. I really thought Dean would be stronger. I didn't hurt to have Congressman Rick Larsen kicking things off!

Let's hear from some other precincts....

Kurt

[progressivebydesign]

19. My sister is in Mount Vernon...

She thought Mount Vernon would go toward Kerry, because it seems pretty conservative to her. La Conner would be a different story, as would Anacortes.

[kurtyboy]

23. I just got a report from someone in Anacortes--

Her precinct went 6 Delegates for Kerry, 1 for Dean.

I don't know about the others, but my friend thought things were extremely positive for Kerry.

[loudnclear]

21. Dean is not my first choice (neither is Kerry) but I don't want him out of

the race just now. I do hope he continues to hang in there. We are much better off deciding this thing at the convention, I think. That will keep the opposition off balance. Terry McAulffie can stick it as far as I am concerned. Who does he think he is trying to make everyone quit so that Kerry can be a shoe-in. Please, Deaniacs, get your man to stay in the race. All the way with Kucinich, Sharpton, Dean, Kerry, and Edwards.

[progressivebydesign]

18. In my caucus, Gig Harbor (between Kistap Co. & Tacoma)..

Whoo. Interesting event! Gig Harbor is quite conservative, but it was great to see fellow Democrats.

There was a group of people who "were going to vote for Bush, but chose Kerry when he became the front runner". Regardless of my candidate choice, I was happy to hear the Democrats were picking up Independents and even Republicans. Okay.. for my pricinct only, I have to say that the Kerry supporters were very aggressive, I was put off by their comments about other candidates. I thought the ones that were most effective personally, were the ones that talked about the positive things about their candidate.

There was one Kucinich supporter who went to Kerry's group. I had tried to talk to him, because he said he supporter DK because of his anti-Iraq War stance, and wanting to deliver health care. When I chatted with him about Dean's continued stance against the war, and about his success in providing health care, he said that Dean hadn't a plan to do it nationally, and that Vermont didn't count. He also told me that Kerry's corporate label was overdone, and that Dean looks like he's lying all the time, and he hates hearing him talk. I told him nicely that it was obviously a personal thing, and that is nothing anyone can talk him out of. So.. he went with Kerry.

Good news for Dean supporters! In my precinct we recruited the three Edwards people into our group, and one will be a Dean delegate. They were very nice people, and we all felt it was a good fit.

For our own precinct, Kerry got 5 delegates, Dean got 4, the undecideds got the rest. There was no votes for Clark (As I said, this is a very conservative area, and I felt that people who would have supported Clark, moved to Kerry because that "electability" thing).

It looks as though Dean may have tied with Kerry or come out ahead in the other precincts at our location. On the radio in Olympia, people were calling about their precincts. Dean had won all of the ones I had heard so far. It'll be a sqeaker for Kerry or Dean.

It was an interesting process. BUT Washington NEEDS a real primary vote next time. This was too limited. Very few people could attend because of sports things, and just life in general.

[babzilla]

22. my Kitsap County precinct results

Delegates awarded:
Dean 3
Kucinich 2
Clark 2
Edwards 1
Kerry 1

I was elected one of the Dean delegates. Whoop.