Forget about forging a Southern strategy, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley advises the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Focus instead on winning Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri, he said.
“Those are the states where you’re going to win,” the mayor said at a news conference Wednesday at City Hall.
Daley also suggested New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson would make a strong vice presidential candidate.
“He’s a wonderful public official,” Daley said.
The mayor wasn’t impressed by Sen. John Edwards’ close second-place finish in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary and his strong showings in earlier contests. Talk of a two-man race for the nomination is nothing but the media trying to heighten the drama “because they want everybody to turn on the TV,” Daley said.
John Kerry’s jitters may be soothed by the mayor’s plain-spoken analysis: “If you win by one vote, you’re still the winner. It doesn’t matter what percentage the other person receives, you’re still the winner, you’re walking away.”
–Dan Mihalopolous
INTERNET COMES OF AGE
So much for the Internet being the vehicle that will draw large numbers of young people to the voting booth.
An analysis of Internet voting in the Michigan Democratic caucuses released Wednesday showed that 28 percent of the nearly 163,000 ballots cast in the Feb. 7 caucuses came via the Web site, and the average age of the voter was 48.5, slightly younger than those who requested ballots.
Fifty-eight percent of those who cast ballots did so in person at caucus sites, while 14 percent voted by mail. Among Internet voters, one was 104 years old, and nearly 50 were in their 90s, according to the Michigan Democratic Party.
“It’s about what we expected,” spokesman Jason Moon said.
No one should be surprised by the Internet numbers, said Curtis Gans, executive director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.
“The problem is, people are looking for procedural ways to boost turnout. The problem is motivation, not procedure,” Gans said, noting that historic apathy among young voters is beyond the grasp of technology to solve.
–Tim Jones
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PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF
Sometimes the campaign trail is not such a dignified place.
While Sen. John Kerry was in downtown Madison, Wis., on Tuesday, filmmaker Sharon Sopher interrupted his handshaking with voters to hand him a postcard with a pink-wrapped condom attached to it.
“I want to give you this, if you would keep this condom as a reminder when you’re president of the need to inform the American public about the threat of AIDS,” said Sopher, who recently made “HIV Goddesses: Stories of Courage.”
Kerry, a leader in Congress in the fight against the AIDS pandemic, cut her off, his tone slightly clipped. He did not reach out for the condom.
“Yeah, I actually don’t need it as a reminder,” he said. “I’m, well– I wrote the legislation that includes–you might want to give that to somebody for whom it’s a real education.”
Not taking no for an answer, Sopher insisted: “This is about women and AIDS in America. I appreciate all your work.”
Kerry finally took the condom and put it in his pocket. “Thank you,” he said.
–Jill Zuckman