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Election spat gets violent, leads to arrest
Steven Soper liked his girlfriend, but authorities say he liked President Bush more.

When his girlfriend suggested this week she wanted to vote for John Kerry, officials allege it was too much for the 18-year-old Bush supporter. A political argument prompted him to end their two-year relationship — and that was just for starters.

Sheriff's officials say Soper, a Marines recruit, later became so upset that he dragged 18-year-old Stacey Silveira into his suburban Lake Worth home, beat her and held her hostage with a screwdriver.

The attack led to a standoff with a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy that ended with Soper being zapped with a Taser and arrested, endangering his chances of serving in the Marines.

Silveira, a senior at Santaluces High School, was shaken up but not seriously hurt.

"He's crazy about Bush," she said. "He kept saying he was going to die in the Marines if I voted for Kerry."...

... During a struggle inside, he allegedly threatened her with a jagged shard of a broken pot and later with a screwdriver. At one point, according to the report, he handed her a knife and asked her to kill him.

"He told me to just kill him because if I vote for Kerry it's just going to kill him anyway," she said.

While they fought, according to officials, Soper asked her: "You want (to) live to see the election?"...

...Soper's mother, Diane Camarda, said her son comes from a military family and that his older brother is stationed in Iraq already.

"He would very much like to go into the service," she said. ...