From the NewsMax.com Staff

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Surprise Battleground State: Democrat Stronghold of Hawaii

The Democrat stranglehold on Hawaii has weakened enough that the island paradise has become a surprise battleground state.

"Aloha" can mean hello or goodbye. Sen. John Kerry and his party had assumed the former, but now the opinion polls have them panicking that voters might say get lost.

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The latest survey by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KITV shows 46 percent of likely voters favoring Bush-Cheney, 45 percent favoring Kerry-Edwards and 9 percent undecided or supporting another candidate, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Hawaii's two U.S. senators and two congressmen have long been Democrat, but the Democrat corruption plaguing the Statehouse had gotten so bad that voters threw out the crooks and embraced Republican Gov. Linda Lingle in 2002.

The state has voted Republican only twice in presidential elections. Furthermore, it was one of only six to vote for the horrible Jimmy Carter in 1980 and one of only 10 to vote for Michael Dukakis in 1988.

How things have changed.

"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," the Star-Bulletin noted today.

What accounts for the Aloha State's shift? Despite the longtime Democrat success at race-baiting in the white-minority state, Hawaii also has a significant population of veterans and service members. Recall that the troops and their families trust President Bush over Kerry by 3 to 1.

Both major parties are now trying to buy time for TV commercials, said Mike Rosenberg, president and general manager of KITV.

"I can't recall any time that any presidential candidate ever spent any money in Hawaii," he told the paper.

Jadine Nielsen, Kerry's coordinator for Hawaii, fretted, "Whatever help we get would be great."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections
DNC
George W. Bush
RNC
Sen. John Kerry

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