Muslims For Kucinich

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry solidified his front-runner status by trouncing his presidential opponents in Saturday's Washington state Democratic caucuses, which former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had until recently been expected to win.

Statewide, Kerry received 48 percent of the vote and Dean 30 percent, with 92 percent of the precincts reporting. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, scored his best showing in caucuses and primaries held so far in 11 states, coming in third with 8 percent of the vote.

Kerry has now won nine of the 11 states.

The Snohomish County results showed Kerry with 47 percent and Dean with 30 percent. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was third with 8 percent. Kucinich only got 7 percent, even though he campaigned in Everett Thursday.

Nationally, Kerry also won in Michigan, with about 50 percent of the vote. Dean was second with 17 percent.

About four times as many people in Snohomish County turned out for Saturday's caucuses as in 2000, county Democratic Party Chairman Kent Hanson said.

"We can thank George Bush for energizing the Democratic Party," he said.

Thousands from Darrington to Edmonds turned the Democratic presidential nomination from a spectator sport into a grass-roots debate and delegate election.

About 300 voters from 44 precincts met in four large rooms at the Labor Temple in downtown Everett. Officials said 80 percent of those voters were first-timers.

Harry Abbott and A. John Chisholm, both in their 50s, had never participated in a caucus before. They were drawn because of their support for Kucinich. The two men, previously strangers, quickly found themselves the minority in the midst of supporters for Kerry, Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

In the friendly but politically charged circle of residents, Chisholm and Abbott realized their candidate was in danger of being dropped because he was short of the 15 percent threshold needed to win delegates in the precinct. But unlike the solitary experience of voting in a polling booth, caucuses allow free discussion and lively debate of candidates.

The two spoke up for Kucinich.

"We believe in what Kucinich stands for," Abbott said, handing out fliers summarizing their candidate's positions, which include universal health care and a commitment to peace and diplomacy.

It worked. They convinced Gary Idleburg to join them, giving them enough people to allow Kucinich one delegate from their precinct.

"It feels like we made a difference," Chisholm said.

Still, the 69th precinct will send three Kerry delegates to the next round, and one each for Clark and Kucinich.

Lisa and Mike Schutt, a married couple in matching "Clark '04" T-shirts, banded together with Peter Jackson to support Clark.

"It's integrity," Lisa Schutt said. "I thought maybe you have to be a bad person to get somewhere in life, and then no, there comes Clark."

Though he prefers a primary election to a caucus as a means of nominating presidential candidates because primaries are less chaotic, Jackson said he was impressed with the crowd.

"Four years ago, I was the only person here from our precinct," Jackson said. "What we witnessed today is a reflection of true democracy."

Upstairs, 12 residents of Precinct 24 in the Rucker Hill area sat in a circle in wooden chairs debating free trade and health care and promoting their candidates' beliefs.

John Garner, 64, said he was leaning toward Kerry but wanted to find out more. He wrote "undecided" on the candidate preference form.

"A fence-sitter," said Aat Bontje, 69, a Kerry supporter.

"I guess I am," Garner said.

Like Garner, Bontje supported Dean until his landslide losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. They both became convinced that Dean would have little chance of beating President Bush in November.

"Electability is the major issue for me," Bontje said. "Dean appeals to me the most, but he's too far on the left side to win."

Kerry supporter Lloyd Smith, 54, argued that the senator's legislative experience and military background would help him beat Bush. Smith was attending his first caucus since he voted for former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart in 1984. The caucuses since then didn't seem as important because the party's nominee had all but been decided by the time they had taken place, he said. But since the state moved up its caucus this year, it could really have an effect on the nomination, Smith said.

After an hour of debating among the undecideds, Garner went with Kerry, and Jeni Brue and Benigno Martinez voted for Kucinich, who they had been leaning toward. The precinct ended up with two delegates each for Kucinich and Kerry and one for Dean.

Garner said he decided against Kucinich because he disagrees with the congressman's vow to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. Kucinich says they have stripped jobs from U.S. workers.

"I have grave doubts about eliminating NAFTA and WTO without any idea of how to replace them," said Garner, who believes free-trade agreements help improve conditions for workers abroad. [ed. note: Kucinich plans to replace them with bilateral trade agreements]

But Brue and Martinez -- also first-time caucus-goers -- chose Kucinich, in part because of his support for a government-run health care program, Brue said.

The couple struggle to make ends meet because Martinez, 22, has to pay $279 a month to have Brue, 23, on his health insurance policy. They worry that those rates will shoot even higher and that they'll have no insurance coverage if Martinez were to lose his job.

"If he sprains his ankle and can't go to work, we're out of luck," Brue said.

Meanwhile, at Edmonds Community College, more than 1,400 voters from 130 precincts crammed the gyms. That was about 500 people more than expected.

Volunteer Jan Kavadas of Edmonds remembered how lonely she felt at the 1992 and 1996 caucuses.

"I remember when it was just a few of us, and we met at somebody's house," she said. "This is an incredible turnout. It shows that a lot of people are concerned with this election."

Her precinct aligned with Kerry, giving him all five votes.

Mukilteo's Precinct 7 didn't seem that concerned about the candidates.

"It's too early in the process to be deciding on a candidate. This precinct is looking at making sure certain ideas make it to the platform," George Moore of Mukilteo said.

The precinct did decide on two delegates for Kerry, one for Edwards and one for Kucinich.

Not everybody at the caucus was a Democrat, although to participate they had to sign in as one. Moore admitted he has voted Republican in the past but now is supporting Clark.

Early results showed Kerry taking a broad lead over Dean and Clark at the EdCC caucuses.

In Island County, Kerry led with 53 percent of the vote, with Dean second at 26 percent and Kucinich third at 14 percent.

The caucuses were the first step in a long process that will lead to the July Democratic National Convention in Boston. The delegates chosen Saturday will go to the legislative district caucuses May 1, where they have the right to change their votes. Delegates selected there will then go to the congressional district caucuses, which will choose delegates for the June state party convention. That final group of delegates will travel to Boston.