A Strong Turnout
for the Bush Brigade
By Robert Kweit, professor of political science at The University of North
Dakota
 |
March 1, 2000, 5:15pm EST-- North Dakota Republicans held their first presidential caucus last night. (The first Democratic caucus will take place on March 7.) There were no surprises, except perhaps for the large turnout. In the last week or so Republican leaders printed extra ballots and added additional caucus locations to make sure no one was left out of the process. Statewide, almost 9,100 ballots were cast with Bush receiving 76 percent of the vote, McCain 19 percent, and Keyes five percent. This means that Bush will get 14 delegates to the National Convention, while McCain will get four and Keyes will have one.
The results were not surprising because Bush had the support of virtually all elected Republicans in the state and popular Governor Edward Schafer was outspoken in support of his fellow governor. Bush also spent a lot of money in the state. For the last few months there has been a barrage of Bush TV ads. The Bush campaign was also well organized, presenting a stark contrast to the McCain campaign, which had no real organization. His brother Joe McCain came to the state in the last couple of days to speak on behalf of his brother and presented his case at the Grand Forks caucus. Grand Forks is the third largest city in the state. At that caucus McCain got 30 percent of the vote, higher than the rest of the state.
Senator McCain set a refueling stop on his flight between California and Virginia at Bismarck, the state capital and second largest city. The airport stopover was to be used for a rally, but it appears that the stopover was a premonition of the vote to come. The public address system worked poorly at the beginning before failing entirely, leaving McCain to yell at his supporters amidst the noise of the airport and wind.
Keyes will receive one delegate, though at many caucuses there was no one to speak on his behalf. In Bismarck no one spoke up for him and in Grand Forks, a reluctant supporter presented an impromptu speech when no one else came forward.
