Why was it predicted that Nixon would win Hawaii in 1960

[OSR stands with Israel]

And JFK winning Alaska before the voting showed otherwise on both

[Mr. Smith]

Military presence in Hawaii, not sure about Alaska.

[Adam Griffin]

Didn't Nixon waste time campaigning in Hawaii in 1960? Maybe that's why. I don't know if polling of these states was conducted then (it was the first election in which both AK/HI could vote).

EDIT: polling was conducted. The final poll showed Kennedy winning with 52% of the vote.

[Nym90]

Nixon fulfilled his pledge to campaign in all 50 states. He infamously campaigned in Alaska during the final weekend before the election so as not to break the pledge, against the advice of his campaign staff.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

He was the only candidate who gave the state any attention.  In fact, on Election Night, Nixon was initially declared the winner in Hawaii before a recount gave the state to JFK.  Prior to statehood, Republicans dominated Hawaii politics because plantation owners held most of the political power as opposed to the more pro-labor, pro-union farm workers.

On a related note, I don't think Nixon's pledge to visit every state was as big a mistake as people think.  Even if a presidential candidate were visiting all 50 states, it's reasonable to assume that some states would be visited more than once, and that those would be the states that were the most competitive.  I realize that travel may have been more difficult in those days, but there's no reason that Nixon couldn't have visited some states more than once, even with the pledge.  His body language in the first debate, JFK's efforts to get MLK released from jail, the Catholic vote, and the recession in 1957-58 had much more effect on the outcome.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Many Southern Democrats, for racist reasons, opposed the admission of Hawaii as the 50th state.  That was what was behind the electoral success of the late Sen. Hiram Fong (R-HI).  Fong, though a loyal Republican, also had the support of the International Longshoremans Association (ILA), a powerful political force in Hawaii, and a major factor in its quick shift to the Democrats. 

[andrew_c]

Before statehood, the Alaska legislature was often controlled by Democrats, while Republicans controlled the Hawaii legislature most of the time. The predictions were probably made based on the assumption that the partisan trend of the territorial period would continue. 

[rob in cal]

   I remember reading somewhere that it was assumed in fact that Alaska would be a new Dem leaning state, and Hawaii GOP.  Some of it might have been an assumption that Hawaii's Japanese American population would vote similar to those on the West Coast.