Pattern of GOP strength faces Kerry in Wayne

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

HONESDALE, PA — Presidential election figures displayed domination of Wayne County by the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2000, and the breakdown of voters registered to take part in the 2004 ballot suggests the strong possibility of a GOP reprise here.

Whether Wayne County will show itself to be a battleground county in the battleground state remains the burning question. The outcome depends largely on the degree of swing momentum created by registered Republicans—17,491 as of last week—who decide to pull the lever for John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president.

The county’s bureau of elections had 8,669 registered Democrats and 431 Independents listed last week. In 2000, when about 70 percent of registered voters turned out on Election Day, 12,201 people voted for Bush/Cheney, 6,904 voted for Gore/Lieberman and 625 voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

Several national newspapers have identified rural voters as one of the most vital segments of the electorate in 2004. A recent letter to the editor in Wayne County’s daily newspaper describes this election as an “extraordinary decision” that “may have ramifications that will haunt us for generations.” Another writer, from Milanville, PA, believes the vote represents “perhaps the most important political transition that we will ever witness.”

In an article posted October 11 on alternet.org, Cochecton, NY-based writer and historian Nina Burleigh observed, “Northeastern Pennsylvania is supposed to be Bush country,” and concluded that if the president can’t find “common ground” with people here, “W. is doomed.”

Bush has visited the region three times in the past seven weeks. Following Kerry and Edwards’ visit to Scranton, PA the day after they accepted the Democratic nomination, Edwards took part in a town hall meeting October 8 at the Scranton Cultural Center and appeared once again in Wilkes-Barre.

While cultural issues like abortion, gay marriage and gun control are likely to hold the attention of Wayne County’s many socially conservative voters in 2004, this high-stakes election also turns on controversial issues like medical liability reform, Social Security and the war in Iraq.

Wayne County Republican Committee Chairman Frank Golden, a retired state police officer who has lived in Wayne County since 1972, believes there are stark contrasts on major issues between Kerry and Bush. He said the county has “a pretty large community of strong Christians,” and that the issue of abortion in this election has taken on new importance.

A billboard in Wayne County advertises, “Abortion stops a beating heart.”

Early in Bush’s presidency, Congress sent him a partial-birth abortion ban, and he signed it.

“Kerry has had the opportunity to vote for a ban on partial-birth abortions. He failed to vote for the ban,” Golden said.

“It’s a homicide,” he said of the procedure.

Two weeks ago Wayne County residents confronted the loss of Sgt. Andrew William Brown, a soldier from Pleasant Mount who died on October 8 in Iraq after being wounded by a roadside bomb. The death of Sgt. Brown, a 2000 Forest City High School honors graduate, became the county’s first loss in the current war.

Throughout the presidential debates, Kerry argued that the Bush administration mismanaged the war in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

But Golden, whose two nephews are currently serving in Iraq, said, “What I hear is that a lot of good is happening. We have to think of 9/11, when we lost 3,000 people.

“We need a president that will take a stand. The heck with what the French or Germans think. I need to protect my family, so I’m backing George Bush.”

Golden added that his contact with local veterans has indicated “phenomenal support for George W. Bush.”

He said the Democratic Party has a “fantastic history,” but that “ultra-liberals” have taken over the party.

“If Kerry wins this election, it’s the beginning of the end of the Constitution and Christianity,” he said.

Wayne Democratic Party leader Maurice Meagher, who also runs Veterans of Wayne County for Kerry/Edwards, said he has heard a number of Republicans say they are ready to switch parties in this election. This includes veterans who believe the war in Iraq is wrong, he said.

“I have a problem justifying a war when we’ve found information that warranted it to be false,” Meagher said. Three of his family members are currently serving overseas in the Navy.

With 17.5 percent of Wayne County’s population at 65 years of age or older, Meagher said Social Security is another salient issue facing the county’s voters.

“Senator Kerry has guaranteed he will not eliminate Social Security, and the president is saying he will privatize it,” he said.

The community is made up of many retirees who moved from the city thinking they could live on their retirement savings, but the increasing cost of Medicare is beginning to eat away at their pension programs, Meagher said.

“If this trend continues over the next four years, we will probably see Social Security taken away completely.”

Meagher also said the collapse of small textile businesses and local manufacturers like Bailey’s Furniture Factory, which was in business for over 50 years, has raised concerns among voters who might be attracted by Kerry’s plan to bolster support for mid-size and small businesses by providing them with tax credits and benefits.

In September, Waynepeace volunteers Katharine Dodge and Beverly Sterner handed out leaflets entitled “Republicans with Second Thoughts,” to people as they left church on a Sunday morning in Honesdale. They asked them, “Would you like to hear what some prominent Republicans are saying about Bush?”

“Most were polite and receptive. A few waved the volunteers off, one saying he was fine with Bush. Some were enthusiastic,” Dodge said.

Sterner asked one man out walking his iguana in the park if he was old enough to vote.

“Heck, I’m 30 and I served in the military. I want to get Bush out,” he said.

Another woman leaving church welcomed the information, saying that she was still undecided for whom to vote. She shook the volunteer’s hand, saying “God Bless,” Dodge said.