ASSOCIATED PRESS
Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., talked with firefighters at a rally yesterday in San Francisco. While in California, Heinz Kerry said that she believed the country would eventually move toward acceptance of gay marriage.
Kerry wins
isle caucusWith Edwards far back, Kucinich
takes second place for a share
of delegates as 4,000 Democrats
gather across the state
A last-minute phone bank to seek support plus the endorsement of most of the Democratic establishment gave U.S. Sen. John Kerry a victory in the Hawaii Democratic caucus last night.
Democrats across the state gathered in caucus meetings last night to select a presidential candidate.
They gave U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich his first second-place finish in a Democratic contest and his first elected delegates, according to Bart Dame, Hawaii Kucinich organizer.
The Hawaii win capped a day of caucus victories for Kerry in Utah and Idaho.
In Hawaii, Kerry and Kucinich were the only candidates to win delegates as the others failed to get the needed 15 percent of the votes.
Alex Santiago, Democratic Party chairman, said the caucuses were surprisingly well-attended, noting that there were 4,000 Democrats voting. Four years ago, there were only 1,200 ballots in a race that saw former Vice President Al Gore easily win over former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley.
Last night, Kerry picked up 1,756 votes while Kucinich had 1,138 votes and Sen. John Edwards had 481. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had 341 votes and Wesley Clark had 30.
Santiago said the tally represents 90 percent of votes cast last night in Hawaii. The remaining 10 percent, from some neighbor islands areas, had not been counted by press time.
Santiago said Kucinich had won half of the Democratic vote on Maui, considered the candidate's stronghold.
Kerry is expected to take 12 Hawaii delegates and Kucinich will take the remaining eight delegates to the national convention in Boston in July.
Two campaign trips to Hawaii by Kucinich helped the long-shot presidential candidate.
One Kucinich organizer in Manoa, Ephrosine Daniggelis, said she has been recruiting supporters and registering voters on the University of Hawaii campus for the past month.
"We have been working day and night; he is the only candidate working for peace," Daniggelis said.
The issue of the Iraq war had changed in the last six months according to some Democrats, who last night said President Bush hadn't proved his case for the invasion.
John Wadahara, a city employee, said he was originally for Howard Dean, but after the former Vermont governor withdrew, said he was looking for anyone who could beat Bush in November.
"I think I'm going with Kerry," Wadahara said before the caucus meeting started at Manoa Park.
"They haven't found any weapons of mass destruction, and his (Bush's) story is changing and I have no trust in him," Wadahara said.
Other Kerry supporters, such as City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, said she hoped they would have a clear statewide support for the Massachusetts senator.
"I think we should all be behind one candidate," Kobayashi said.
That idea was seconded by Joe Blanco, a banker and state executive assistant under former Gov. Ben Cayetano.
"I came out to support Kerry," Blanco said. " He's a good man and it's my duty as a Democrat to come out."
Another Manoa resident, public relations executive Barbara Tanabe, said she was supporting Sen. John Edwards, D-S.C.
"I read about Edwards early in the campaign and his life story impressed me. He has a compelling history," Tanabe said.
Another Edwards supporter, architect Scott Wilson, said he was supporting the first-term senator because he would continue to provide Kerry with some competition.
Wilson explained he was first for Dean and had even contributed to his campaign, but after Dean withdrew, he started looking for another candidate.
"I wanted to support Kucinich, because he was best on the issues, but he didn't have a chance," Wilson said.
"I'm going with Edwards to keep Kerry on a more progressive track," Wilson said.
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Kerry also victorious
In addition to Hawaii's win, Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry scored solid victories in the Idaho caucuses and Utah primaries yesterday, as he headed to a climactic 10-state Super Tuesday next week.
in Idaho and UtahKerry outpaced North Carolina Sen. John Edwards 55 percent to 30 percent with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting in Utah. Complete returns in Idaho showed Kerry with 54 percent and Edwards with 22 percent.
The three matchups were little more than blips on the political calendar. And Kerry is already looking beyond the nomination fight, yesterday calling President Bush a "walking contradiction" who has presided over job losses, a deficit increase and frayed international alliances despite promises to the contrary.
Bush had opened up on Kerry the day before.
Counting early returns from yesterday's contests, Kerry's lead in the Democratic delegate chase swelled to 635 versus 191 for Edwards. Nomination requires 2,162 delegates. A total of 61 delegates were at stake yesterday.
Associated Press
