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Kerry Endorsement Comes With Promise, Risks •
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Kucinich Seeks NH Dem Vote Recount
By Stephen Frothingham
The Associated Press
Thursday 10 January 2008
Concord, NH - Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who won less than 2 percent of the
vote in the New Hampshire primary, said Thursday he wants a recount to ensure
that all ballots in his party's contest were counted. The Ohio congressman cited
"serious and credible reports, allegations and rumors" about the integrity
of Tuesday results.
Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said Kucinich is entitled to a statewide
recount. But, under New Hampshire law, Kucinich will have to pay for it. Scanlan
said he had "every confidence" the results are accurate.
In a letter dated Thursday, Kucinich said he does not expect significant changes
in his vote total, but wants assurance that "100 percent of the voters
had 100 percent of their votes counted."
Kucinich alluded to online reports alleging disparities around the state between
hand-counted ballots, which tended to favor Sen. Barack Obama, and machine-counted
ones that tended to favor Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also noted the difference
between pre-election polls, which indicated Obama would win, and Clinton's triumph
by a 39 percent to 37 percent margin.
Candidates who lose by 3 percentage or less are entitled to a recount for a
$2,000 fee. Candidates who lose by more must pay for the full cost. Kucinich's
campaign said it was sending the $2,000 fee to start the recount.
Scanlon said his office had received several phone calls since Tuesday, mostly
from outside the state, questioning the results. New Hampshire's voting machines
are not linked in any way, which Scanlon says reduce the likelihood of tampering
with results on a statewide level. Also, the results can be checked against
paper ballots.
"I think people from out of state don't completely understand how our
process works and they compare it to the system that might exist in Florida
or Ohio, where they have had serious problems," he said. "Perhaps
the best thing that could happen for us is to have a recount to show the people
that ... the votes that were cast on election day were accurately reflected
in the results. And I have every confidence that will be the case."
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Kerry Endorsement Comes With Promise, Risks
By Walter Alarkon
The Hill
Thursday 10 January 2008
Former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's (Mass.) endorsement
of Sen. Barack Obama could boost the Illinois Democrat with partisans, but it
also risks reminding voters of Kerry's painful 2004 loss and his record of gaffes.
Kerry can help by making some Democratic loyalists, particularly older women,
take a second look at Obama, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political
scientist. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) won more support than Obama
among older and married women in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire
primary. "They stay loyal to nominees even if they lose," Sabato said.
"They probably say good things about Mike Dukakis."
Kerry announced his support for Obama Thursday in Charleston, S.C., a state
where Democrats will vote in a Jan. 26 primary. Kerry noted his close loss to
President Bush in the general election and his call then for unity.
"I dared to hope publicly at that moment that the healing would begin
then," he said. "It didn't, but it will begin when Barack Obama is
president."
Obama gets Kerry's vote as a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention
and access to Kerry's 3 million-person e-mail list, which could help Obama's
organization and fundraising efforts. To date, more superdelegates, who tend
to be members of the party establishment and get to vote at the national convention,
have pledged support to Clinton than Obama.
It's unclear how much the endorsement will help Obama in South Carolina. In
2004, Kerry lost both the South Carolina primary and its eight electoral votes
in the general election. Robert Oldendick, a University of South Carolina political
scientist, downplayed the endorsement's impact on that state, noting that Kerry
finished second to John Edwards in 2004, trailing the former North Carolina
senator by 15 points.
"It would be much more important for the average [South Carolina] Democratic
voter if they were to get an endorsement from the African-American leaders of
a church or from local politicians," Oldendick said.
Kerry's propensity for making gaffes, something both Republicans and comedians
fondly remember, can also muddle his endorsement's effect, Sabato said. "You
can imagine them saying, 'There goes Obama's chances,' " he said.
As if on cue, the Republican National Committee sent out a press release Thursday
morning pointing to similarities between Kerry's and Obama's liberal voting
records in the Senate.
Obama himself alluded to negative feelings many have toward Kerry and former
Vice President Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, in taking
a shot at Clinton while campaigning last month. "I don't want to go into
the next election starting off with half the country already not wanting to
vote for Democrats. We've done that in 2004, 2000," Obama said.
Kerry, in his fourth Senate term, joins Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif.) in endorsing Obama this week. The endorsements come
on the heels of Obama's loss in the New Hampshire primary, where Clinton won
because of strong support from women and registered party members.
Kerry's decision is somewhat of a rebuke to Edwards, his former running mate,
and Clinton, his Senate colleague. Kerry and Edwards aides disagreed over strategy
during their close 2004 loss, so it's no surprise Kerry's endorsement went to
someone else. And though Clinton's husband campaigned vigorously for Kerry in
the 2004 general election right after he had undergone heart surgery, Hillary
Clinton called for Kerry to apologize for his botched joke in 2006 about people
who don't study hard and "get stuck in Iraq."
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