Obama, Huckabee lead Presidential hopefuls

By Patrick Yost
Editor

    District 5 voters will have to wait another month, and vote again, to determine who will serve the unexpired term of Chester Thomas on the Morgan County Board of Commissioners.
    With 55 percent of District 5 voters participating, the special election will go another round with Republican candidate Sammy Cathey and Democratic candidate Joyce Thomas in a run–off.
    Cathey received 43 percent (528) of the 1,230 votes cast. Thomas received 29 percent (352). Republican Thomas Bell finished third in the voting with 15 percent (156) and Republican Betty Straw Brown finished fourth in the voting with 13 percent (156) of votes cast.
    The Morgan County Board of Elections will hold another special election to determine the winner of the District 5 post on March 4. Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Advanced voting will be available one week prior to the election.
    Cathey said Tuesday night he would continue to “knock on doors” and would start “talking to people that voted the other way.”
    Thomas said she too would continue canvass the district “talking to people about the major issues… issues they are interested in. I try to be fair and honest in what I have to say.”
    Cathey said he would continue to promote an agenda of open government with open communication to his constituents. “I want to make sure the people know what’s going on.”
    In the Presidential Primary, on the Republican side, Mike Huckabee was a clear front–runner in Morgan County. Huckabee received 41 percent (1,218 votes) of all votes cast. John McCain finished second in the Republican Primary with 32 percent (944 votes) of all votes cast and Mitt Romney took third with 24 percent (708 votes). Rounding out the Republican Primary was Ron Paul with 2 percent (61 votes), Rudy Giuliani with 0.84 percent (25 votes), Duncan Hunter with 0.13 percent (4 votes), Fred Thompson with 0.10 percent (3 votes), Alan Keyes with one vote and Tom Tancredo received no votes.
    In total 2,964 Morgan County voters (60 percent) cast Republican votes.
    On the Democratic side, Barack Obama was an overwhelming favorite with Democratic voters in Morgan County. Obama received 62 percent (1,212) of all Democratic votes cast compared to 34 percent (657) for Hillary Clinton. Rounding out the rest of the Democratic candidates were John Edwards with 3 percent (56 votes), Joe Biden with 0.46 percent (9 votes), Dennis J. Kucinich with 0.36 percent (7 votes), Bill Richardson with five votes and Mike Gravel and Chris Dodd each received three votes.
    In total 1,952 (40 percent) of Morgan County voters participated in the Democratic party. County wide 50 percent of Morgan County’s 9,905 voters participated in Tuesday’s Presidential Primary.