Bush and Kerry
target isles
A close presidential race has
both parties interested in
buying local commercial time
Hawaii has found its way onto the national political radar, and proof will be showing up on your television screens.
Hawaii has just four electoral votes, but with the race for president tied in many key states, the presidential election could be decided by Hawaii voters.
Mike Rosenberg, KITV president and general manager, said that shortly after the Star-Bulletin/KITV4 poll showing the neck-and-neck race, his station got calls from both Democrats and Republicans looking to reserve political commercial time.
"I can't recall any time that any presidential candidate ever spent any money in Hawaii," said Rosenberg, who has been in his role since 1985.
Christina Lockwood, national advertising supervisor for KHON-TV and KGMB-TV, said they have received requests from the Democratic National Committee.
"We would assume that the Bush campaign is also checking on air time," she said.
Lockwood declined to say how much the DNC ads were worth but said it was "very significant."
Local leaders of the presidential campaigns said they were not aware of the TV moves by the national groups, but they welcomed the support.
"Whatever help we get would be great," said Jadine Nielsen, Kerry coordinator for Hawaii.
"John Kerry and the Democrats are not taking a single vote for granted, and new efforts in Hawaii are indicative of the hard work of the campaigns," said Josh Earnest, a DNC spokesman.
Brennon Morioka, GOP chairman, said he heard about an inquiry from the Bush campaign but does not have any specifics. "I think the ads would help," Morioka said.
But Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the national Bush-Cheney campaign, said the GOP was looking for success next week with a strong grass-roots campaign.
"President Bush clearly has the momentum in the national race, and we've seen that reflected in recent polls in Hawaii," Schmitt said.
"We've been working for months to build a vast grass-roots team under the leadership of (Gov.) Linda Lingle and have a strong team in place to turn out the vote.
"We believe the president's leadership gives us a real opportunity in a state that has not traditionally supported Republicans," Schmitt said.
Hawaii has been considered a solid Democratic state, but it has voted twice for GOP candidates, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, in their second campaigns.
Hawaii also shows this year that it is supporting Bush with political donations.
This year, Bush has picked up $893,000, while the Democratic candidates for president raised a total of $420,000, with $260,000 of that going for Kerry.
Bush campaigned in Hawaii last year on the way back from an official visit to Asia and Australia. The only Democratic presidential candidate to visit Hawaii during this campaign season was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who barnstormed through Maui and Oahu last year.
www.hawaii.gov/elections
