Dennis was #2 in Hawaii and Alaska... why

[GreenPartyVoter]

the strong finish in the noncontinental states?

[TrueAmerican]

1. He's the only one that campaign in Hawaii

Free vacation on his supporter's dime.

[no name no slogan]

2. Or maybe....

.....Hawaii and Alaska know something the rest of the country doesn't? :D

Or maybe it's because he believes that voters in every state and territory deserve to have their voices heard before we declare a "winner".

As somebody who has supported DK financially and through volunteer efforts, I can say he runs one of the most economical campaigns I've EVER witnessed.

He's managed to keep his message and campaign going on little money, and LOTS of grassroots support. I've been around politics for 15+ years, and I've NEVER seen a grassroots campaign run with such efficiency and effectiveness-- and I'm someone who participated in Sen. Paul Wellstone's first Senate run (before he had money).

[snoochie]

11. Nothing like a vacation

First of all, he doesn't miss votes. I think he missed one. Check that against other candidates' records - or even other house members!

Also, the man barely sleeps. Most of us like to at least get caught up on sleep when on vacation. Dennis will be waiting a few more months before that happens.

[minkyboodle]

17. check his voting record in the house

his number of missed votes versus many of his fellow candidates missed votes is quite impressive. Implying a vacation on his supporters dime is dishonest and misleading.... true to your usual posting style.
Scott

[bigwillq]

3. Lots of Liberals in Hawaii

Who are peace-loving, free-spirited.
I don't know why he did so well in Alaska

[ButterflyBlood]

5. maybe because....

he was the only candidate who hadn't dropped out besides Kerry?

[no name no slogan]

8. But why didn't Kerry get over 50%???

That's what baffles me. If they're the only two candidates, Kerry should be winning with 60%+ percent by now.

But he's NOT. He's still pulling ±50%. That says that, although Kerry's got the numbers, his support is still very tepid-- IOW, people still care about the direction this party will take for the next few years.

[ButterflyBlood]

9. actually what it shows is

since everyone knows who the nominee will be, they can now vote their consience. Most of the Kucinich supporters probably had Clark, Dean, Edwards or Kerry as their second choice and supported them until the nominee was decided.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Sure shows the flaws in the system then.

[zulchzulu]

15. A Kucinich supporter saying Kerry's "support is still very tepid"... LOL

Dude, last I've heard, Kucinich is in last place with the delegate count, let alone the vote count.

Last place, the basement, barely on the radar...perhaps that means nothing to you.

[no name no slogan]

27. You misread what I said.

I have YET to meet an enthusiastic, hardcore Kerry supporter-- although I've met many Dean and Kucinich supporters that way. I have not seen ONE Kerry supporter who has not paid a bill for a month, or given up several weekends in a month, to support John Kerry.

The only "support" I've seen from him is from elected officials in safe seats, who are on board with him because that's where the party apparatus and money were at. I do not see John Kerry (or his tepid message) igniting disaffected or previous non-voters into voting democratic.

I don't recall Kerry ever getting over 50% before super Tuesday-- and even now, he's still scraping to hit it in many states. People aren't enthusiastically voting for Kerry because they agree with his message-- they're voting for him because he's the inevitable nominee.

I went to my Senate District convention yesterday, and even among the Kerry supporters, most did NOT agree with his platform or positions. They wanted an end to the PATRIOT act, immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and true Universal Health Care sooner rather than in 20 years.

Kerry is set to become the next Michael Dukakis if he keeps this up. No reason to vote FOR him, other than he's not Bush. That's how you get 45% of the vote. That might not be enough to win this time.

[JI7]

18. he did get 60+ in many other states and hawaii was before super tuesday

kerry isn't campaigning in those states as he did when there was still competition also. if he actually campaigned there he would have got a lot more. he also cancelled his planned campaigning to hawaii so he could compete in super tuesday states where edwards was still considered strong competition.

[ButterflyBlood]

4. Alaska is easy

him and Kerry were the only candidates still running.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Do they have the same corporate media the other 48 states have?

[zulchzulu]

16. No. They still use sticks and rocks and smoke signals.

Haven't you heard?

[Leilani]

21. Hysterical!!!!

Best laugh today.

Reporting in from Hawaii, on 1 of 3 computers in the islands. Had to wait on a line for 8 hours.

[zulchzulu]

22. Only 8 hours? :->

Wiping all that suntan lotion off the keyboard and dealing with the smoke from the Imu must be a real pain.

Aloha!

[Leilani]

24. Aloha Zulu!

Actually, I was busy weaving palm fronds for our roof.

Mahalo for the huge laugh!

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. You want a sad laugh, re: corporate media? *l*

I have a satellite dish, but my aerial antenna doesn't work. So I haven't seen a local newscast in about 7 years. Have seen tons of CNN though.

Thank heavens for the internet or I wouldn't have a clue what is happening in my area.

[boobooday]

7. Really smart people?

At least I think so. :-) Wish my state was so smart.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[mobuto]

12. When there are only two candidates running

Coming in second, ahead of candidates who have already dropped out and endorsed Kerry, isn't all that hard.

[dolstein]

14. Some DU'ers are so accustomed to thinking that 2nd place is a "win"

that they fail to grasp the obvious.

[mobuto]

23. I'm not accustomed to thinking of 2nd place as a win

This is the presidency. You do not place, you do not show. You either win or you don't.

John Kerry's going to win.

[DaisyUCSB]

13. They're "the freak states" don't you watch the simpsons

No seriously. The turnout in Hawaii was insanely low. Kuninich beat Edwards by under 100 votes if I'm not mistaken. And the entire turnout might have been less than 1000. Google the Slate story about it.

[JI7]

19. American Idol

the hawaii caucuses were on the day of american idol and there was some hometown(hawaii) favorite on the show. this was actually reported in the news that turnout might be even lower because of that. i still give credit to kucinich for his second places though.

[Quetzal]

26. Approx. 4000 people came out to vote in Hawaii

http://www.hawaiidemocrats.org/PresPref-rev.html

[G_j]

20. I don't know why ,but I'm happy

he picked more delegates. One thing I think people miss is the reason he has stayed 'in' is that he TRULY cares about the Democratic party.

[Quetzal]

25. From the island that Kucinich won a majority of the votes, Maui,

let me share my report.

Sure, there was the American Idol factor, but I don't think the fans of it were going to vote anyway.

Approx. 4000 people voted.

Here are the results

http://www.hawaiidemocrats.org/PresPref-rev.html

It meant a lot to Mauians for Kucinich to come here. Some voted for him out of respect, and some voted for him because they agreed with him on the issues.

Issues of trade aren't that big of a deal here, but the environment and the values of peace are. When I was voting in my caucus, I was originally going to vote for Kerry until one of his supporters stood up to give a speech. He talked about how Kerry came out against the FMA, which was really a good thing. But hey, a homosexual like me needs someone who supported full marriage benefits. That is when I changed my vote to Kucinich.

The biggest impact of Kucinich's visit was on the liberal movement here. I didn't even know that there were that many liberals on the island of Maui. I mean, we come from the county which Linda Lingle, our Republican governor, was the mayor. It revitalized our efforts and now we have anti-GMO, anti-development movements, and pro-peace rallies and meetings here on Maui. There will be great things to come.

Kerry had always been my second choice, and I am still going to vote for him.

Dean had a LOT of support here in Hawaii.

[no name no slogan]

28. EXACTLY-- it's NOT just about one election

It's about the future of this party, and what we are going to stand for, and how we're going to affect long-term change in not only the party, but the whole country. Why? Because issues like Universal Health Care, Living Wage jobs, and ending American imperialism will not immediately go away on November 3, no matter who wins.

In Minnesota (where DK got 17%), our people are moving into the party heirarchy, and organizing for our local elections. A couple dozen of us are now on the state party's Central Committee. Many of us are also precinct chairs, county chairs and delegates to the state convention.

We're moving into positions of power, and bringing along our supporters with their grassroots activism and dedication. I have seen old-time party hacks literally amazed at our numbers, our dedication and our enthusiasm to beat Republicans on every level.

And they are welcoming us with open arms, too.

[elperromagico]

30. Well, Nader got 10% of the vote in Alaska four years ago,

his biggest percentage in any state. And Hawaii is classically liberal. Kucinich's strong percentages there don't surprise me much.

[kodi]

31. he appeals to those who are out where the buses don't run?

or it could be that the massive amounts of federal US dollars infused into their state economies makes each population think such a level of socialism is the norm and those federal dollars are theirs by rights.

[Phelan]

32. small states and nobody cares anymore

The few people that still come out to primaries are the real idealists for the most part since the primary is already mathematically decided.
That would easily explain how a small turnout that both Alaska and Hawaii had after the primary is essentially over can be in theory hijacked by dedicated supporters that aim to prove a point.