Kerry leads caucus as Michigan Democrats head to polls

Democratic voters and campaign volunteers hit the street today to cast their vote for Michigan's caucus.

At the MSU Union, student groups campaigned for their favorite candidate.

Voters stepped off the elevator on the third floor as campaigners immediately started firing questions.

"Have you considered John Kerry?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions about Gov. Dean?"

The student candidate groups were out in force, trying to sway voters' opinions toward their candidate.

But many people had their minds already made up.

International relations sophomore Melissa Horste voted for Dean and had "no problems with disclosing that."

"I just found Howard Dean to be the one that I supported first," she said. "I agree with him on pretty much every single one of his topics. He's done so much for Vermont and I think he can do the same for this country."

Prenursing sophomore Justin Wholehan agreed.

"I think a Bush-Dean (race) would be more interesting," he said.

Special education sophomore Allison Jernigan and prenursing sophomore Kathryn Single voted together for Kerry.

"There's just two parties - Bush and everybody who wants him out of office," Single said.

Single said she felt that Kerry was strongest on issues like Medicare, education and job creation.

"I think if we don't create jobs, our economy is going to be receding more and more and more," Single said.

The entire voting process took about a minute, many voters said. It was "completely painless," Jernigan added.

Although most people voted for front-running candidates in the race, there were exceptions. International relations junior Derek Wallbank said he wrote in a vote for U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, a Georgian Democrat.

"I think that a caucus is where you put down the person you think is best," said Wallbank, who also is president of MSU's Residence Halls Association. "Even though (Miller) is not running, even though he has no chance of winning, I still thought he was the best choice for president of the United States. And I felt I had no choice but to vote for Zell."

Polls across the city also were steadily visited by voters, but weren't as crowded with campaign volunteers as the campus voting site.

At Edgewood United Church, 469 N. Hagadorn Rd., voters varied on their choice for the Democratic nominee.

Keith McCall, an East Lansing resident, attended the church polling site this morning.

"I voted for Wesley Clark; he reminds me of Eisenhower," he said. "I see him blossoming like Eisenhower."

Most voters, however, decided to support a front-runner.

"I've liked Kerry the whole time," East Lansing resident Jane Dudley said. "I liked his stance on Vietnam compared to Iraq. We just need to get our boys back from Iraq safely."

But Dudley's husband Mike disagreed, and cast his vote to John Edwards.

"I think Edwards can win in the South," he said. "I'd love to see Edwards debate Bush. Bush isn't smart enough to hold Edwards' water."

Of 59 people surveyed randomly at noon, 26 said they voted for Kerry, 17 for Dean, 8 for Edwards, 4 for Clark and 4 for Dennis Kucinich.

None of the voters surveyed said they voted for Al Sharpton. U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman dropped out after Tuesday's 7-state primary.

Michigan has 128 pledged delegates, the largest number of any state so far.

Polling locations closed at 4 p.m. today and poll volunteers will count the votes and phone the results in to the Michigan Democratic Party.

Statewide mail-in and Internet ballots were counted earlier at Breslin Center.

The Michigan Democratic Party received 26,000 mail-in ballots which party volunteers counted in one hour. As of 11:30 a.m., 40,000 Internet ballots were counted. Internet voting continued until 4 p.m. today.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, visited the ballot counting event to thank Democratic party volunteers.

Final results from Internet ballots and polling place votes will be released tonight at 8 p.m.

For results of today's Michigan Democratic caucus, please check back with www.statenews.com throughout the evening.