Washington Week . Student Voices

Democratic frontrunner pulls away with weekend victories
By Donn M. Fresard & Michael Gurovitsch
Michigan Daily (U. Michigan)
02/09/2004

(U-WIRE) ANN ARBOR, Mich. — John Kerry further solidified his position as the Democratic frontrunner by squashing his rivals over the weekend in the Michigan, Washington and Maine caucuses.

In Michigan, Sen. Kerry of Massachusetts received 52 percent of the vote, followed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean with 17 percent and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina with 13 percent. Michigan was the largest state to hold a contest thus far, with a total of 128 pledged delegates at stake. That is a larger prize than states such as Iowa, which offered only 45 total delegates in its Jan. 19 caucuses. Kerry won that contest with about 36 percent of the state delegate equivalence.

A total of 841 people, many of them students, voted at the University of Michigan Union polling site. Kerry received 30.7 percent of the votes at this location, ahead of Dean with 26.4, Edwards with 16.6, retired Gen. Wesley Clark with 11.8, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio with 10.7 and the Rev. Al Sharpton with 2.9, according to Graham Teall, chairman of the Washtenaw County Democrats.

Dean, who once hoped to win Michigan, all but conceded the state Thursday to focus on the Feb. 17 Wisconsin primary, which he called "a must-win state." Dean canceled a visit that was scheduled for Friday at the Michigan League.

The bad news continued for Dean on Saturday, as he lost the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, a sizeable labor union with 1.4 million members.

"The entire race has come down to this: We must win Wisconsin. ... A win there will carry us to the big states of March 2 and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything less will put us out of this race," Dean said in an e-mail sent to supporters on Thursday.

In Washington, Kerry captured the majority of the state's 76 pledged delegates by obtaining 49 percent of the vote, followed by Dean with 30, Kucinich with 8 and Edwards with 7.

In Sunday's lone caucus, Kerry followed the example he set on Saturday by decisively winning in Maine. With more than 50 percent of precincts reporting when The Michigan Daily went to press, Kerry had 45 percent of the votes, ahead of Dean with 26, Kucinich with 15 and Edwards with 9.

Kerry has now won 10 of the 12 primaries or caucuses that have been held. Saturday's victories (excluding Maine) increased his first-place delegate total to 409 — ahead of Dean with 174 and Edwards with 116. A candidate needs a total of 2,161 delegates to secure the nomination before Boston's July 25 national convention.

Tennessee and Virginia will vote tomorrow, and Nevada will have its election on Saturday.

Michigan Lt. Gov. John Cherry told The Associated Press that Saturday marked the second-highest voter turnout in a Michigan Democratic caucus.

"148,000 people came out to cast their presidential preference, and the loser was George Bush," Cherry said.

The highest turnout in Michigan occurred in 1988 with more than 200,000 voters participating.

About 123,000 voters applied for online ballots in the caucuses, making this the first caucus in Michigan history to offer Internet voting. Registered Michigan voters had been casting their electronic ballots since early January.

Teall said that he was impressed by the voter turnout in Washtenaw County, especially since opinion polls showed Kerry with a commanding lead.

"Even though the polls predicted a clear winner in the Michigan elections, the turnout was fantastic. That shows to me voter motivation," he said.

The Forsythe Middle School polling site in Ann Arbor even ran out of ballots as it was set to close at 4 p.m., causing the site leader to run to his office and copy more ballots as close to 250 people waited outside, Teall said.

"Nobody left out of frustration. They waited and wanted the chance to vote," Teall added.

In Ann Arbor, Gov. Jennifer Granholm was received enthusiastically at the Michigan Union as she officially opened the caucus site along with Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Dearborn), state Sen. Liz Brater and state Rep. Chris Kolb (both D-Ann Arbor).

Donning a John Kerry button, Granholm spoke about the importance of the college vote.

"I am just thrilled that so many people are participating," Granholm said. "College students have a reputation of not engaging in the (political) process, and I'm glad to see so much activity here."

Hieftje said the upcoming presidential election has important implications for Ann Arbor.

"(We) need to get back to an era where the government is giving back to the local community instead of taking it out. Money to support the police was cut back — it was called homeland security, (but) the basic needs (of the community) are being ignored," he said.

"I'm voting for John Kerry because he will best represent my interests — he is a very strong environmentalist. I really believe he represents the values of people in Ann Arbor, and I hope they will make the same choice," Hieftje added.

Dingell also talked about the importance of the November election.

"It is a regular policy of mine to attend caucuses. The practice is to get around as widely as I can," Dingell said. "I want to be as helpful to the Democrats as possible because I'm tired of having the country run by the Republicans."

Most of the voters at the Union were students, with Kerry and Dean supporters being the most prominent. Dean's volunteers said support on the campus for their candidate was strong, and that the media was to blame for Kerry's recent momentum within the state.

- Daily Staff Reporter Victoria Edwards contributed to this report.

[ Back to Student Voices ]

-->