Democratic frontrunner John Kerry coasted on Not-So-Super Tuesday, winning three more states as Idaho, Utah and Hawaii quietly picked delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Kerry had no trouble dispatching John Edwards, the North Carolina senator who is generally portrayed as the last serious threat to the Massachusetts senator’s frontrunner status. Kerry beat Edwards by 36 points in Hawaii, 32 points in Idaho and 25 points in Utah.
In fact, the candidate who came closest to Kerry wasn’t even Edwards.
The candidate who gave the Democratic frontrunner the best run for his money on Tuesday was Dennis Kucinich, who won a respectable 27.5 percent of the vote in Hawaii to Kerry’s 49 percent. While no one outside the Kucinich campaign is suggesting that the Ohio congressman’s strong showing in Hawaii will put him on the road to the nomination — or even to more second place finishes in the foreseeable future — this was the best showing of the campaign so far for Kucinich, who has frequently finished with less than five percent of the vote in this year’s primaries and caucuses. And it comes at a particularly useful time for the candidate, who has been struggling to gain attention going into the March 2 “Super Tuesday” contests in delegate-rich states such as California, New York, Ohio and Minnesota. Kucinich, who says he is in the Democratic contest until the convention in July, may have an easier time making the case for his continued inclusion in Democratic debates now that he has secured a second-place finish and won delegates.
Kucinich, the Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair who had collected no delegates in primaries or caucuses prior to Tuesday, appears to have won seven delegates from Hawaii, while Kerry will likely get 13. According to Hawaii Democratic Party chair Alex Santiago, Kucinich won the island on Maui, where the Ohio congressman campaigned Sunday night during the only pre-caucus campaign swing through the state by one of this year’s contenders. Among Kucinich’s Maui backers was singer Willie Nelson, who owns a home on the island and performed a concert for the congressman there.
Kucinich’s late surge in the state was of sufficient concern to Kerry backers that, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the frontrunner’s campaign organized a last-minute phone bank to get its backers to the caucuses, which attracted three times the turnout seen in 2000. That Kerry was held below 50 percent in Hawaii by anyone was a surprise, as the Massachusetts senator had the support of most of the state’s Democratic Party establishment, including U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka and U.S. Representative Ed Case.
The fourth member of Hawaii’s congressional delegation, U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie, was an early supporter of Howard Dean’s presidential bid and continued to urge Democrats to vote for Dean in hopes of winning delegates who would promote a progressive agenda at the party convention in Boston. But Dean only won nine percent of the caucus votes, falling below the 15 percent threshold needed to gain delegates.
While Kerry and Edwards skipped Hawaii to concentrate on “Super Tuesday” contests in 10 states that will select 1,151 delegates March 2, Kucinich gambled that the long flight to Hawaii might be worth the effort. The congressman, whose best previous showings were third place finishes in Washington state and Maine, told Hawaii Democrats that they could send an anti-war message. “It’s no surprise the other candidates haven’t come to Hawaii, because they would have to answer why they voted for the war and why they voted for the Patriot Act,” Kucinich argued at campaign stops, adding that, “The people of Hawaii have the opportunity to make a statement.”
Kucinich’s backers, most of them peace activists, drove the anti-war message home. Ephrosine Daniggelis, who campaigned for Kucinich on the University of Hawaii campus, told local reporters, “We have been working day and night; he is the only candidate working for peace.” On caucus day, the grassroots Hawaii for Kucinich campaign messaged supporters that, “The caucus is a time for Democrats to give voice to our true beliefs and honestly debate which direction we want for our country and our party. Once the primaries are over, we will all support the party’s nominee against Bush. But please do not silence your independent voice before it is necessary. If you oppose the war, do not vote for a pro-war Democrat in the caucus. If you support trimming military spending, support universal healthcare, free college tuition, fair trade, etc., please vote your conscience. While the eyes of the world are upon us, let’s send a message that Hawai‘i is a special place and a very progressive state.”
They succeeded in sending that message. Kucinich’s solid second-place finish in Hawaii was one of the strongest showings in any primary or caucus for a candidate stressing an anti-war message — including Howard Dean who, it should be noted, went at the task with considerably more more money, official support and media attention.
