Campaigns & Elections' Politics - February 2008 - (Page 45) Hawaii Primary: Feb. 19 (Dem), May 17 (GOP) Delegates: 49 (29 Dem, 20 GOP) With Hawaii’s Democratic caucus slated for Feb. 19, many Aloha State Democrats are working to deliver victory to a native son. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu and lived much of his early life in the state. His sister still lives in Hawaii and has been leading Obama campaign rallies there. Obama’s candidacy has triggered real interest—the state’s Democratic Party is anticipating the strongest turnout in the history of Hawaii’s Democratic caucus. “I think the fact that Obama was born here and spent his formative years in Hawaii generates a lot of excitement,” says Rep. Mazie Hirono. Hawaii has historically been a non-destination for presidential candidates, but the state’s Obama supporters are holding out hope for a campaign visit from the candidate, which would likely translate into an easy Sen. Barack Obama primary win here. At this point, Rep. Dennis Kucinich boasts a comparatively strong following in the state, largely because he’s been the only candidate to campaign there in the past two presidential cycles. —S.D. Texas Primary: March 4 Delegates: 377 (228 Dem, 149 GOP) The major party nominees may already be decided by the time the Lone Star State’s primary rolls around. But come March 5, the state may be the center of attention if New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg decides to make a third-party run for the White House. That’s because the day after the Texas primary is the first day to collect signatures to get on the state’s November ballot— and, coincidentally, it’s also the date most frequently cited by Bloomberg supporters as decision day. “Texas is one of the most difficult states to get on the ballot because you need lots of signatures and there’s not that much time to get them,” says Gail Parker, a volunteer with the Draft Bloomberg movement. Getting on the Texas ballot is an almost Herculean task; it requires more than 43,000 signatures to be gathered in just two months’ time. Parker notes that Virginia, where she has been circulating petitions lately, calls for just 10,000 signatures. Qualifying in Texas “is not only time consuming,” she says, “but it requires a lot of resources and you better get started right away.” —S.D. Washington Primary: Feb. 9 caucuses, Feb. 19 primary Delegates: 137 (97 Dem, 40 GOP) It’s double the fun for voters here this nominating cycle, thanks to the fact that Washington will hold both caucuses and a primary. What’s even more fun is that the state’s GOP initially decided that it wouldn’t release the caucus results until after the primary. The state Republican party says the plan was simply a matter of timing, noting that it often takes days to fully tabulate caucus results. But the move caused such an uproar that, at press time, the party announced it was going to reconsider that decision. “It would be the first time either party has ever done anything like this, to my knowledge,” says David Postman, chief political reporter at the Seattle Times. “It’s possible that we’ll know the primary results before we know who won the caucus 10 days before.” About half the Republican delegates are divvied up based on caucus results, with the other half allocated through the primary. For Democrats, the Feb. 19 primary will amount to nothing more than a preference poll, because the party allocates all of its delegates based only on caucus results. —Lauren Zingarelli Clockwise from top: Shivani Parmar; James Steidl (iStock)); Christopher Pattberg (iStock) February 2008 Politics 45
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