TRAIL MIX

Occasional morsels from Campaign 2000

Trail’s end

The world will have to wait until later today to learn how Supai, Ariz., voted in Tuesday’s Republican primary. The remote tribal community’s 22 ballots had to be carried out on foot.

Usually the ballots go out by helicopter (or in some years, by mule), but because the next chopper doesn’t fly out until Friday, Coconino County employee Bruce Maxwell and his wife hiked nearly 10 miles down a steep canyon, oversaw the election and hiked out Wednesday morning to drive the forms three hours to Flagstaff.

Maxwell won a drawing of 30 county workers who wanted the assignment, Kris Waite, elections division manager, said. “We had biathletes and ironmen from the county who all wanted to do it,” Waite said, but Maxwell is “just a guy who likes to hike.”

McSimilar

We know candidates need name recognition, but the lack thereof can help too. It may be how John McGrath--whose name is awfully similar to John McCain’s--finished fifth in the Arizona primary.

“We were so close on the ballot,” McGrath said Wednesday. “He was No. 1 and I was No. 3.” Sure, some voters may have really liked McGrath’s message that politicians break their promises and give seniors and young people a “rotten deal.” But there may have been as many as 230 Arizonans who confused the Tucson hospital security guard with their senator, the man who handily won on Tuesday.

A veteran like McCain, McGrath won 0.1% of the vote, according to the secretary of state, drawing 59 more votes than dropout Gary Bauer. The former New York City transit worker spent less than $2,000 on his campaign, he said.

One vote McGrath didn’t get: his own. He voted for the man listed between McCain’s name and his: Alan Keyes.

Virtual mudslinging

Bill Bradley and Al Gore are now slugging it out on their Internet sites, too. On Tuesday, Gore set up the “Bradley Information Bureau,” on https://www.algore2000.com, including detailed analyses of Bradley’s ads against Gore. On Wednesday, Bradley’s campaign quickly unveiled https://www.moreaboutgore.com, featuring an unflattering picture of Gore, and asking in large letters: “Who is the real Al Gore? Take a closer look.” Users can pull down files on issues ranging from health care and schools to gun control and abortion, and read write-ups on Gore’s votes as a Tennessee congressman. If you like fine print and cereal box labels, you’ll love both the BIB and the MAG offerings.

Unconventional

If you see some confused Time magazine reporters wandering around San Diego in August, send them north. According to an item in the Feb. 28 issue, the Democrats will hold their nominating convention in San Diego, not Los Angeles. That came as a surprise to Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew: “With all due deference to San Diego, which is a wonderful place, it wasn’t even on our list.” Besides, the Republicans had their party there in ’96. Time says the mistake was corrected in later editions.

By the numbers

1.3 million--Number of voters in Tuesday’s Michigan primary, up from 524,161 in 1996.

565,000--Voters in South Carolina’s primary, up from 276,000.

396,385--Voters in New Hampshire’s primary, up from 302,196.

87,900--Voters in Iowa’s caucuses, down from 96,451.

Quote file

“I was disappointed in the results last night, but George is a fighter. . . . He can overcome it. . . . There’s still a lot that lies ahead here.”

--Former President Bush

Compiled by Massie Ritsch