For Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican Party nominee for president, predominantly Democratic Hawai’i isn’t considered a “battleground state,” according to state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, who heads his campaign in the state. And Vice President Al Gore, who twice
For Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican Party nominee for president,
predominantly Democratic Hawai’i isn’t considered a “battleground state,”
according to state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, who heads his campaign in the
state.
And Vice President Al Gore, who twice during his time in office came
to Kaua’i for vacations, also won’t campaign here in person, says Patrick
Johnston, a spokesman for the Gore campaign in Hawai’i.
While both
candidates have state headquarters in Honolulu, the fact is that Hawai’i, with
only around half a million registered voters and just four electoral college
votes, isn’t even a blip on the candidates’ radar screen.
Hawai’i, about
3,000 miles from the continental U.S., may as well be a million miles away as
far as the presidential candidates are concerned. Nationally televised debates
like the one Tuesday may be as close as Hawaiians get to Gore and Bush, since
neither plans on making campaign stops in Hawai’i before the Nov. 7 general
election.
Having just four electoral college votes, compared to 54 for
California, the Aloha State plain doesn’t get much aloha from presidential
candidates with their eyes on New York (33 electoral college votes), Texas
(32), Florida (25), Michigan (18) and other key states.
Electoral college
votes are distributed based on each state’s number of U.S. senators (two) and
members of the U.S. House of Representatives (varies). In Hawai’i’s case, the
candidate who garners the most votes in the general election wins the state’s
four electoral college votes.
Out of a total of 538 electoral college
votes, it takes 270 to win election. Hawai’i, with its largely Democratic
population and elected officials (23 of 25 state senators and 39 of 51 state
House members), is all but conceded to Gore.
But that doesn’t mean the
local campaigning doesn’t continue — on a smaller scale. Both campaigns in
Hawai’i are employing grassroots tactics which don’t cost much money.
The
Gore campaign, which didn’t even open its Honolulu office until last Saturday,
sent $5,000 and 20 bumper stickers to help open the Hawai’i headquarters,
Johnston said.
Earlier in the campaign, Kaua’i Mayor Maryanne Kusaka
lamented she couldn’t get Bush yard signs for her neighbors requesting them.
“They’re scarce,” Marumoto said. “It’s not like we have a lot of
money.”
Most resources are being poured into the larger states, said
Marumoto, who able to devote her energy to the Bush campaign because she is
running unopposed in her own race.
Gore signs are in short supply, too.
Tighter campaign financing rules are making things hard in Hawai’i for both
campaigns, Johnston said.
Staff writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached
at 245-3681 (ext. 224) and pcurtis@pulitzer.net
