By Darlisa Crawford
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- Massachusetts Senator John Kerry made a clean sweep of caucuses in Idaho and Hawaii and the primary election in Utah on February 24, giving him 18 victories in 20 contests for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination since January and a commanding lead going into the "Super Tuesday" elections -- named for the significant number of convention delegates to be decided that day, on March 2.

In Utah, Kerry led North Carolina Senator John Edwards 55 percent to 30 and in Idaho 54 percent to 24. In Hawaii, Kerry won with 50 percent of the vote, while Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich took second with 26 percent. Kucinich was the only Democratic candidate to campaign in Hawaii.

Kerry and Edwards are now focusing their campaign efforts on the ten states -- Connecticut, California, New York, Ohio, Georgia, Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island -- that will cast ballots on Super Tuesday. Kerry spoke to factory workers in Ohio on Tuesday, while Edwards was campaigning in Georgia. Analysts say that Edwards will put his hopes on strong showings in Georgia, Ohio and New York to slow Kerry's momentum.

This round of campaigning will draw heavily on the candidates' resources. Eight of the nation's 20 most expensive media markets are in Super Tuesday states. According to the Associated Press, Edwards and Kerry would have to spend at least $10 million in a two-week period to run moderate levels of political advertisements in the ten states. It costs an estimated $500,000 a week in San Francisco and Boston and at least $1 million a week to air political advertisements on television in Los Angeles and New York.

The preservation of U.S. jobs is emerging as the major issue between Kerry and Edwards. On February 19 Kerry won the endorsement of AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, which represents more than 13 million workers. Although Kerry originally voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he now campaigns as a critic of NAFTA.

Edwards also strongly opposes NAFTA and any trade deals that allow companies to cut wages or move jobs abroad. Noting that the trade issue is likely to be a major topic of debate in the general election campaign next fall, Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said, "Trade, in fact, is a surprisingly bipartisan issue -- you vote with your state, not your party."

Although the Democrats have dominated media election coverage in recent weeks, the Republican Party is beginning to activate its campaign. Underlining his "steady leadership in times of change," President Bush debuted his campaign fight at a meeting of Republican governors in Washington on February 23. The president's re-election efforts feature English-language and Spanish-language political advertisements in up to 50 markets in 17 swing states that will begin broadcasting on March 4, two days after the Super Tuesday contests. The Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign has e-mailed political advertisements to 6 million voters.