Taking advantage of a newfound “battleground” state, the Republican campaign has decided to take a late try at Hawii.
Vice President Dick Cheney will campaign in Hawaii on Sunday, making a rare stop on historically Democratic turf where the presidential race is unexpectedly close, a spokeswoman announced Thursday.
“We are competitive in the state; this is a very close race,” Anne Womack said.
Working for a possible electoral boon? Giving the Veep an island vacation? No, the AP quickly finds another way to spin it.
The trip was announced hours after news broke that the FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., the oil services corporation formerly headed by Cheney.
That damned evil Halliburton is behind it. But, if Hawaii isn’t in play, explain this.
Hawaii, which has four electoral votes, backed Democrat Al Gore by nearly 20 percentage points in 2000 and only votes GOP in re-election landslides — for Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Richard Nixon in 1972. But polls show Bush within striking distance, which has forced the Democratic National Committee and Sen. John Kerry to spend money to advertise there.
Kerry also was sending his daughter, Alexandra, to the island paradise for a get-out-the-vote rally on Saturday.
As a lifelong journalism junkie with a degree in the field, I plan on soon putting together a post on my opinion of how pathetically, disgustingly biassed the professional portion of the field has been through the course of this election. Not that I’d be the first, as here’s a good starter (hat tip to lgf).