Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

[Linkmeister]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

"I want you to stand, raise your right hands," and recite "the Bush Pledge," said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."

That's from http://www.slate.com/id/2108852/

"One Nation Under Bush" in Slate earlier this week.

Charming, isn't it?

[pzarquon]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

Early results (absentee and early voting) fresh out of the State Capitol shows Hawaii leaning Kerry 54 percent to Bush's 43 percent. Considering the gap the state normally shows, certainly nothing for Dems to get excited about. We'll see how returns for today look in a few hours.

[pzarquon]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

Final tally? 231,691 for Kerry (54%), 194,184 for Bush (45%). At this point, a mere consolation prize for the battered island Democrats.

One local tidbit I found interesting - a reversal of the national trend wherein urban areas favored Kerry and rural areas favored Bush. Notes the Advertiser: "State voting patterns showed that Kerry and Bush were much closer on O'ahu than on the Neighbor Islands, where Kerry surged." I would've expected the opposite, but I guess the "military factor" factored very heavily in the Honolulu population core.

[mel]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

I would not consider island Democrats battered. Sure, they lost the big enchilada, but locally the Democrat party held on to power at all the expected places and increased their presence in the State House which will make things very difficult in the coming year for the Republicans and those with a minority viewpoint.

[pzarquon]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

A fun footnote: Dick Cheney, in setting the stage at this moment for George W. Bush's victory speech, mentioned Hawaii ("the aloha state") in his opening statement.

[j3rr3y]

Re: Bush v. Kerry in Hawaii

Well, I am really happy about Bush's victory... I was hoping they would carry Hawaii, but hey, at least it was a clear victory. It seems most Americans felt, as I did, that terrorism was a really big issue. I thought Americans put terrorism ahead of issues like gay marriage... but according to the 11 states that had a constitutional ammendment on the ballot, it is still a very important issue to Americans. Gay marriage was struck down in all 11 states, and I think it was Ohio that banned civil unions as well. I really think this helped Bush, because he seems to be a lot stronger on this issue.