County proves it remains red zone
Minnesota may be blue but Crow Wing County is definitely red.
In the U.S. presidential race, Republican Sen. John McCain carried 53 percent of the vote in the county to president-elect Sen. Barack Obama's 45 percent. McCain garnered 18,566 votes to Obama's 15,859.
McCain carried 45 of Crow Wing County's 62 precincts. Obama only carried 17 precincts - mostly city precincts.
Obama nearly carried the city of Brainerd. He received the most votes in seven of the city's eight precincts. The one precinct he lost was the precinct in southwest Brainerd, which votes at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
McCain carried all four Baxter precincts.
McCain carried more than 60 percent of the vote in Crosslake Precinct 1, Fifty Lakes, Gail Lake, Ideal, Jenkins city and township, Pelican and St. Mathias polling precincts.
Obama did not receive more than 60 percent of the vote in any precinct. His highest percentage was 59 percent in Brainerd Ward 1, Precinct 1.
Karleen Schmidt fed her ballot into the counting machine Tuesday night at The Church on Wise Road in the Unorganized Territory Blue Precinct north of Brainerd. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Of Obama's 17 Crow Wing precincts, 14 were city precincts - seven Brainerd precincts, two Crosby precincts, Cuyuna, Garrison, Ironton, Riverton and Trommald. The remaining precincts were Little Pine, Ross and Wolford townships.
Most Brainerd lakes area counties went to Obama. McCain carried Cass, 53 percent; Morrison, 58 percent; Todd, 54 percent; and Wadena, 58 percent.
In Aitkin County, Obama edged McCain by 10 votes. Obama received 4,601 votes - or 48.85 percent - to McCain's 4,591 votes, or 48.75 percent.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., carried two more precincts in the county than McCain - a total of 47 of the 62 county precincts. He carried all the McCain precincts as well as two Obama precincts - west Brainerd and Little Pine Township.
Coleman's strongest precincts - where he picked up more than 55 percent of the vote - were Crosslake Precinct 1, Fifty Lakes, Gail Lake, Ideal, Jenkins Township, Manhattan Beach and Pelican.
Coleman carried a higher percentage of Crow Wing County voters than statewide voters.
Coleman received 46 percent of the county vote compared to 37 percent for Democratic challenger Al Franken and 16 percent for Independence Party challenger Dean Barkley.
Coleman and Franken are locked in the state at about 42 percent of the vote each.
Franken carried Aitkin County while Coleman carried Cass, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties.
The one Democrat to carry Crow Wing County was Congressman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. But he didn't unanimously carry the county. He failed to carry seven precincts - Crosslake Precinct 1, Fifty Lakes, Gail Lake, Ideal, Jenkins Township, Manhattan Beach and Pelican. Oberstar garnered 60 percent of the vote in the county to Republican Michael Cummins' 39 percent. Statewide, Oberstar carried 68 percent to Cummins' 32 percent.
And Crow Wing County did go blue - for water.
The outdoor amendment passed by 52-48 percent in Crow Wing County compared to a statewide average approval of 59-41 percent.
KATHI NAGORSKI may be reached at kathi.nagorski@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5859.