Utah, Idaho, Hawaii voting today

[maddezmom]

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 11:40 a.m. ET Feb. 24, 2004

Voters head to the polls in Utah today, and caucuses in Hawaii and Idaho, in pit stops on the way to next week’s main event of the nominating season, “Super Tuesday.”

A total of 61 delegates are on the line in the three states today, 20 in Hawaii, 18 in Idaho and 23 in Utah. But Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry and his chief rival, Sen. John Edwards, have spent little time wooing voters there, focusing instead on the 10 states where voting will occur March 2, putting 1,151 delegates up for grabs.

Kerry will spend more than $1 million this week — nearly five times as much as Edwards — to run campaign ads in media markets in Ohio, Georgia and New York, which vote next week, aides said. Edwards has bought about $270,000 of ad time in those states thus far.

Edwards was campaigning Tuesday in Atlanta with Georgia lawmakers. Kerry was in Ohio, touring a closed steel mill with laid-off workers and talking with workers at a revitalized factory. Other states voting next week are California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Vermont.

~snip~

more:http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4360607/
__________________________________________________________________

Any DU'ers voting today? :)

[TeeYiYi]

1. Me.

re: Any DU'ers voting today? :)

TYY

[katieforeman]

4. Do you minc if I ask who you're voting for?

[TeeYiYi]

13. No, I don't mind . . .

Kucinich.

TYY

[MaggieSwanson]

14. Didn't it feel great?

:toast:

[TeeYiYi]

29. Yes it did . . .

. . . I hadn't voted yet when you posted your reply but I did vote this evening (yesterday) at 6:30 pm.

See my voting update (post #49) here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=393792&mesg_id=396237&page=

TYY :hi:

[BL_Zebub]

2. Between Utah and Idaho, that's what? 20 votes?

8 Democrats in SLC and maybe 12 in Boise?

[porkrind]

5. Hey!!! I'm one of the 8 !!!!

Now I really feel special! :)

[West Coast Democrat]

7. Utah has a Democratic House Representative

Idaho does not; Also, SLC has a much larger population than Boise.

[Sean Reynolds]

15. Salt Lake City is about 65% Democratic.

Republicans only make up about 30% of the city, with the rest independents. In fact we've had a Democratic mayor since the 1970s and Republicans have basically given up on trying to win the office. Oooh and our mayor today has come out and said he's a socialist.

He just won re-election last November.

Against another Democrat.

The Republican lost in the primary.

What does that tell you?

[West Coast Democrat]

19. That's true, there is definitely a large Dem majority in the city proper

but the SLC city limits are very small, with only about a 170,000 population (out of about 800,000 in the entire area).

[Sean Reynolds]

27. The county is changing.

They've actually become more liberal in the past 20 years.

Lets hope the change continues.

[BL_Zebub]

21. Tells me the Mormons must be getting pissed.

Or is it ok for LDS to be Demoncrats now?

[porkrind]

25. Not OK. Most of them love republicans. I think they love the abuse. (??)

:spank:

BTW, I just voted in Salt Lake, and the line was HUGE. The line went the door of the bulding. Met some cool people. :)

The great thing is, I was able vote my conscience by voting for Kucinich in the primary, and then I can cast my "survival ABB" vote for the nominee in the final.

[Freddie Stubbs]

23. 41 delegates at stake between the two

Which is more than Sharpton and Kucinich have combined.

[bif]

3. Trifecta Tuesday

When the important states vote

[ShaneGR]

6. You know, I do wish Edwards would have spent some time

In one of those states, but I guess Super Tuesday is more important. I think we could have pulled a victory out of one of those states.

[Nicholas_J]

11. Kerry will not ignore

Any state. As he says, he takes nothing for granted, and delegate ten or 20 delegates from Utah or Idaho or Hawaii are just as good as the same number from any other state. Kerry taking a large percentage of these delegates will place him close to 700 delegates, more than a third of those needed to win the nomination, before Super Tuesday which means that if Kerry had to split delegates with Edwards evenly on Super Tueday, he would have a significant lead by next week, enough for him to be the defacto noninee.

There are sixty one delegates in play today and it looks like a fair portion of them are going to go to Kerry today. With his current 632 delegates, the more he gets, the closer to the 700 point make he is, and that is well over a third of the required delegates.Super Tuesday states have half all of the delegates available with almost a third of the delegates being in California where Kerry has a large lead over Edwards, and which Edwards has chosen not to focus on.

Edwards, regardless of his showing in Wisconsin, has had to run a defensive race, and has had to carefully pick states to focus on.

So far he has shown a bit of bounce from Wisconsin's results, the smaller number of candidates, but he hasnt come within striking distance of Kerry anywhere else. California voters are by and large voting on the number of states each candidate has already won.

[Nicholas_J]

8. So far it looks like Kerry is going to win these three states largely

I heard it from from Fox News today, so I question it, but even Edwards campaign people state they have ceded those states to Kerry.

Fox was uncanilly accurate calling the exact final figures for Wisconsin last week minutes after the polls closed.

Kerry Expected to Win Tuesday Races


Tuesday, February 24, 2004
By Liza Porteus


ATLANTA — As voters go to the polls in Idaho, Utah and Hawaii on Tuesday to choose a Democratic opponent to President Bush, the president himself has launched his own efforts to keep his seat in the Oval Office.


Meanwhile, advisers to North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (search) said their boss was giving up on Tuesday's contests, essentially ceding them to the front-runner, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search).

Instead, Edwards, whose strong showing in Wisconsin Feb. 17 propelled him toward a head-to-head battle with Kerry, is campaigning hard in the South. So far, Edwards has only won South Carolina -- the state of his birth -- and although he has placed a solid second in other races, he still has a lot of catching up to do to reach Kerry, who has a primary/caucus win record of 15-2.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112300,00.html


It is my personal thought that Edwards is now running with one purpose only, the V.P. slot, and to prevent Dean from having any posible strength if the party goes on to a brokered convention. Once Edwards passes Dean's delegate count by a fairly safe margin (lets say 25 percent or so) and keeps ahead, Dean completely becomes a non-figure at the convention.

[oasis]

9. I'm voting today in Hawaii. I'll let you know how it goes in my precinct.

[Nicholas_J]

10. I just read that

Idaho and Utah are having record, massive Democratic Turnout, but there may be problems in Hawaii towards the evening because of American Idol.


But so I am not labeled state basher:


Today, large voter turnouts are expected in Utah and Idaho, according to officials, but a Democratic Party official in Hawaii says the appearance of a well-known state resident on the show “American Idol” may hold down turnout at the caucuses there.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4360607/

[oasis]

12. A low turnout was already expected weeks before anyone knew about

who would be appearing on T.V..The "party official" was just echoing something he had heard at a local coffee shop. IMO.

[Leilani]

16. Hawaii is safely in the Dem column

so politicians never come here; not enough votes for the distance.

Hawaii will have zilch turnout today; the head of the Dem party even said so.

There was very strong Dean support here some time back; AFSCME? is really strong here with all the service workers for the tourist trade.

I think now it's a given that Kerry will be the nominee.

The caucuses are tonite; we're 5 hrs behind Eastern time, so results won't be known till tomorrow for most of you.

Note: Dennis K came to Hawaii & I think it was greatly appreciated.

[BootinUp]

17. thanks for the info!

[Robb]

18. Were it me

...I'd have figured out a way to do all my campaigning from Hawaii. Telecommute, or something.... I love Hawaii!! :D

[mndemocrat_29]

20. Question about Utah

Why, if the Salt Lake City is so overwhelmingly Democratic, is there not one SAFE Democratic Representative (I know Jim Matheson is there, but he rarely wins with much more than 50 percent)? Is it because of gerrymandering? Also, I know that Utah came really close to gaining another seat in the House during the census. Would it have been Democratic?

[King of New Orleans]

24. Mainly gerrymandering

SLC isn't overwhelmingly Democratic, but yes the CDs are drawn to split the democratic vote. If Utah had gotten a 4th CD, they might have drawn a more safe Democratic district while leaving the other 3 heavily Repub.

[Sean Reynolds]

26. Answer, because Salt Lake City only makes up 180,000 of 900,000 in SL Co

Salt Lake City only has a population of about 181,000 people. It's small when you compare it to Salt Lake County, which is 900,000 strong. People in the county tend to be moderates, voting for Democrats and Republicans.

YET the county is becoming more liberal, so the state gerrymandered the 2nd district from JUST Salt Lake County, to only part of Salt Lake County and the rest being rural Utah.

IF Salt Lake City got its own district, JUST the city, it'd probably elect a liberal Dem every single time.

[Zookeeper]

22. Please consider voting for Edwards!

There is a real momentum building for John Edwards. I attended his rally on Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota and no one predicted the huge turnout. My kids and I ended up in one of two overflow rooms, watching the speech on a screen. A lot of people couldn't even get into the building. The Mpls. Star Tribune reported the next morning that 2,000 people were there.

Unfortunately, when you visit the Edwards web site they don't have that number front and center. (I've e-mailed them. They should!)

I'm convinced that Edwards has the best chance of beating Bushwah in 2004! Check him out before you vote in your primary!

[AlFrankenFan]

28. When do the polls close?

I can't find results anywhere.