[Peace-discuss] Kucinich demographics

[Jim Buell]

Very interesting numbers, Randall. At a glance, they look similar to what 
the Greens saw in 2000 with the Nader campaign, and in 2002 with Carl's run 
for Congress. (Ken Urban or John Paul Schmidt have the best sense of those 
results, I think. You might want to follow up with them.) As I recall, Ken 
did especially well in those Champaign precincts in his run for City 
Council last year, too. Clearly, there are strong pockets of progressivism 
in this community, thanks in no small part to the efforts of local people 
involved in progressive politics, in peace and justice groups like AWARE, 
in campus social-political groups, in IMC, community radio and alternative 
media generally, etc. etc.

As you may also have noticed, the Champaign County results for Kucinich 
were by far the highest of any Illinois county - other standouts included 
6.8 percent in McLean (Bloomington-Normal) and 3.9 percent in Sangamon 
(Springfield), versus 2.3 percent statewide. (The figures are at 
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2004/by_county/IL_Page.html?SITE=ILCHAELN&SECTION=POLITICS#President) 
There's a clear relationship with where Kucinich chose to spend his time in 
the days just before the Illinois primaries - testament both to the 
strength of progressive ideals in these communities, and to the good sense 
of the campaign in where to visit. It's also worth mentioning that there 
are very active Green locals in both McLean and Sangamon. For what it's 
worth, Kucinich's percentage statewide is also similar to Nader's 
performance in the 2000 general election; Carl won about 3.9 percent of the 
total 15th Congressional District vote in 2002.

By the way, I've burned an audio CD of Kucinich's talk at the Illini Union 
and will put a couple copies at the IMC sometime this weekend. Sound 
quality isn't perfect - I used a minidisc recorder at my seat - but pretty 
good. (I also videotaped the talk, but the result's kind of jittery since I 
didn't take a tripod. I won't bother making a tape of that unless somebody 
really really wants it, but I'll leave a realmedia version on CD at IMC for 
anyone interested.) It's a moving and important speech - well worth re-hearing.

regards,
Jim

At 05:40 AM 3/27/2004 -0600, Randall Cotton wrote:
>I chewed on the Kucinich voting results for Champaign and Urbana for a
>while, just out of my own personal curiosity. Not that I'm moving or
>anything, but it seems to me that a neighborhood's "Kucinich quotient" would
>be a pretty good indicator of a nice place to live =8-). And it got me
>wondering...
>
>The raw data I used is at:
>
>http://www.champaigncountyclerk.org/
>
>Champaign County overall: 13.9% Kucinich
>Urbana: 21.6% Kucinich
>Champaign: 14.3% Kucinich
>
>Some other interesting observations:
>
>The winning precinct for highest Kucinich concentration is Urbana's 4th
>precinct, with 43.9%.
>The 4th precinct is entirely on campus, bordered by Nevada, Pennsylvania,
>Wright and Lincoln. So this is essentially all University Residence Halls
>and includes Allen Hall.
>
>Precinct maps are available at:
>
>http://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/precinctmaps.htm
>
>The 4th precinct, along with Urbana's 7th and 8th precincts each had
>Kucinich totals that actually beat Kerry.
>
>The strongest Kucinich concentration in Champaign was the 2nd precinct (the
>one I live in - Yay Us!) with 37.8%. However, no Champaign precinct had
>Kucinich numbers that beat Kerry.
>
>There are 5 main Kucinich "strongholds"
>
>1. Urbana precinct 4 (as described)
>
>2. Central Urbana (precincts 7,8 and 12) - this is the area bordered roughly
>by University on the north, Washington on the south, Lincoln on the west and
>Cottage Grove on the east. Altogether: 41.8%
>
>3. North campus (2nd precinct in Champaign combined with 2nd precinct in
>Urbana). That's roughly the area bordered by University on the north, Green
>on the south, 3rd on the west and Lincoln on the east. Altogether: 36.5%
>
>4. Ricky's old neighborhood - specifically Champaign precinct 12. Yes, the
>highest off-campus Kucinich concentration in Champaign is pretty much
>centered right at Ricky's old house =8-). Specifically, this precinct is
>essentially bordered by University on the north, Springfield on the south,
>Neil on the east and Prospect on the west. 31.1%
>
>5. The "Church Street Corridor" - Champaign precincts 11, 19 and 25 -
>basically two or three blocks on either side of Church Street from Neil all
>the way out to Prospect. Altogether: 25.4%
>
>And finally, a couple other items of interest:
>
>There were actually more votes for Kucinich from Urbana than from Champaign
>(750 vs. 650), even though Champaign's population is much larger.
>
>The UofI campus as a whole (Champaign precincts 2 through 5 combined with
>Urbana precincts 2 through 5) came in at 30%.
>
>R
>
>
>
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