<font color=brown> Can you believe how chickensh*t the Republicans are......voting for Edwards in WI in the hopes of dislodging Kerry. What's with these open primaries anyway? Only Dems should be allowed to vote...not Reps. and independents as well. My bro in law, a died in the wool GOP that he is, did the same damn thing in NH except he voted for Dean.
I told my sister that in November she needs to put ecstasy in his pop so he never makes it to the polls! <g> <font color=black>
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GOP Turnout Heavy in Wis. Democratic Vote
By JULIET WILLIAMS, AP
MILWAUKEE (Feb. 17) - An unusually heavy Republican turnout and a late surge in support from independents helped John Edwards to a surprisingly close second-place finish behind John Kerry in Wisconsin's Democratic primary, an Associated Press exit poll found.
In an open contest on a day with a nonpartisan primary for mayor in Milwaukee and a referendum on casino gambling in Madison, one in 10 Democratic primary voters described themselves as Republicans - and Edwards won as many of their votes as did Kerry and Howard Dean combined. The Republican turnout was the biggest of any Democratic primary so far this year.
Three-quarters of Edwards voters said they'd decided to back him in the last week. More than half the Kerry supporters said they decided to do so a month or more ago.
Within the past week, Edwards picked up two newspaper endorsements and got good reviews for a Sunday debate.
Of independents who said they made up their minds within the last three days but not Tuesday, two-thirds voted for Edwards. Edwards' edge was a little smaller among voters who decided Tuesday.
Nearly one in five voters said the most important candidate quality in their decision was that ''he has a positive message,'' and Edwards won about 60 percent of them. Jean Lohr, 40, and her husband Bill Lohr, 50, of Sun Prairie, were two of them.
''He's got a good heart. Kind of like Bill Clinton got us rocking,'' Bill Lohr said. Added Jean, ''Either one of them (Kerry or Edwards) is going to do a better job than Bush has been doing.''
The results were from a sampling of 2,238 voters conducted for the AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
Dean, who finished a distant third, suffered numerous defections, the exit poll found. One in four voters said they had planned to support Dean at some point during the campaign but wound up voting for someone else. The Dean defectors split evenly between Kerry and Edwards.
''(Dean) came across better in the last couple of days but I'm afraid he shot himself in the foot early on,'' said Barbara Chamberlain, 79, of Milwaukee, who voted for Edwards.
Three in 10 voters described themselves as independent, and they favored Edwards over Kerry, but not as strongly as Republicans did. Still, Kerry won about half the votes of the six in 10 who called themselves Democrats.
Edwards, Kerry and Dean campaigned heavily in Wisconsin leading up to the primary, focusing on job creation, health care and taxes at stops around the state.
Four in 10 voters said the economy and jobs was the most important issue in their vote. That group favored Edwards over Kerry by more than 10 percentage points. About two in 10 picked health care and Medicare, and about as many cited the war in Iraq. Kerry won both of those groups easily.
''It's time to put the money back in our country and focus a little less on fixing the world's problems,'' said Chris Seramur, 42, of Milwaukee, who voted for Kerry because he thought the Massachusetts senator had the best chance of ousting President Bush.
One-third said that in deciding how to vote, they were more focused on finding someone who can oust President Bush than backing a candidate who agrees with them on major issues - similar to results in exit polls in the earlier 2004 primaries.
Of those who said an ability to beat Bush was the top candidate quality, seven in 10 voted for Kerry. Edwards, meanwhile, got half the votes of those saying they wanted a candidate who cares about people like them.
A quarter of those surveyed said the most important candidate quality was that he stand up for what he believes; these voters divided their support among the top three candidates, with Kerry slightly behind Edwards and Dean.
02/17/04 22:44 EST
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press |
