Vote this Poll

[kerrygoddess]

Big Eddie has an '08 preference poll up -

http://www.wegoted.com/

Needs Kerry love - I posted an alert on the Dem Daily as well!

[wisteria]

1. What a poll, JK can't get any respect. The cookie cutters are out

in force,Kerry can't claim any ground. What ungrateful little twits they all are. Senator kerry has done more for them then all the others combined and yet they go for them. I don't know how Senator Kerry puts up with these ingrates. Hillary even has her new found blog friends to bolster her. I just can't believe people would support her over Kerry, when she has done absolutely nothing at all in nearly the six years she has been in office.
I realize this is unscientific and it is being manipulated by others, but I hope it doesn't persuade Schultz to ignore Kerry and pump up Hillary. Damn that Time PR piece for Hillary. Why does she even deserve it?

[whometense]

2. She doesn't.

She just has the clout to get it anyway.

Kerry is totally aware of this. If he runs, it certainly won't be as the darling of the DNC - that's HRC's spot.

I have to say that I remain totally unconcerned about this. As Kerry himself said on This Week, he was down 30 points in the polls only a couple of months before the voting started. These polls are less than worthless - they are also misleading. And any candidate who believes them does so at their own peril.

HRC is (I'm firmly convinced) leading in all these polls because everyone in the media refers to her as the frontrunner. Regular voters haven't even begun to think about this seriously yet.

Stop me if you've heard this story one too many times, but there was a period in the fall of 2003 when I felt like I was living out my own personal Groundhog Day. Every morning the radio would click on at 7am, and every morning the news was the same: Kerry was down by 20/25/30 points in the latest poll. And you know how that one turned out...

[kerrygoddess]

3. My sentiments exactly

"I have to say that I remain totally unconcerned about this."

To early to worry - the polls at this point are meaningless. As for HRC, I'm not convinced she'll actually run.

[wisteria]

4. I never tire of hearing about it. I need the reminders sometimes.

I am angry at those over looking all Senator Kerry has done for them. Not one of the others would take our side like Kerry has. It just make me made they are so ungrateful.
Senator Kerry shines above them all. Gore was cool until he bashed the President, Edward's isn't qualified and coming from a Southern state doesn't mean you are qualified to be President. Hillary has never done a thing for any of us-except to marginalize us until she needed donations.
Oh, anyway, maybe this is part of a good strategy. If it doesn't look like you are in the running it allows for you to get things done under the wire and without much notice.

[whometense]

5. "it allows for you to get things done under the wire"

Exactly - and that is how Kerry likes it. He's been spot on with his timing lately, and is doing everything he needs to do to lay the groundwork if he decides to run.

[karynnj]

10. I agree with Whome - until the real voting starts,

these numbers mean little and the "front runner" will poll further out than they are. Part is that there is a very common tendancy of people to tell the pollster what they think they want to hear. Also, if like many people they haven't really thought about it - they will say the last person they may say the frontrunner because they don't want to sound dumb saying they don't know. For Kerry, there may be another factor saying "Kerry" may be perceived to be the only wrong answer - all the other have someone pushing them. People saying "Kerry" now are the diehards - who after finding who Kerry was - really don't see the others as even close.

Also, I think what I would have done in Fall 03. The only 2 I liked were Kerry and Dean. (Though in hindsight I knew pretty little about them) My biggest concern was that the earliest primaries would kill both because they would split the NE liberal anti-war vote. I slightly preferred Kerry, but that fear and Dean's much higher poll numbers would have made me say Dean. (As I started reading - I dropped one choice entirely and found each thing I read on Kerry made me more supportive.) But in the fall '03 polls, if I would have been sampled I would have said Dean.

The other thing is people are re-writing history on Gore. Many Democrats said the nomination was his for the asking through 2002. That was why it was a big deal when he said he was not running. Gore really is not in that much better a position than Kerry now. Gore polls only slightly better - but to run Gore has to do a lot. He has to define a position on everything. Now, people look at his efforts on global warming and that he's bashing Bush and I think many assume that on all other issues they agree. The environment may have become a voter's issue thanks to Al, but it is still likely not the number one issue for a huge number of people. As a real candidate, every time Gore takes a major position, he got lose support. (Also, he's in the weird position that his current base are the people who liked him the least in his previous career - will they stay as he becomes a full blown candidate?

Kerry's positions are enhancements of the 2004 positions, provided you moved with Kerry's view of Iraq - the people who genuiniely supported Kerry in 2004 have no reason not to like him now.

[ginnyinWI]

7. the media creates its own reality

They talk Sen. Clinton way up, then ask who is the frontrunner--bingo. That validates them and they feel great. And the people have been snookered again.

I don't mind it though--JK will do better with lefties if he is the dark horse and underdog. DU types are way too cynical about anybody embraced by the media. I think that was a major part of Dean's appeal, and why people didn't believe he was as centrist as he really was.

[whometense]

9. excellent point,

and I completely agree. I think the underdog position is the best place to work from.

[whometense]

6. done. n/t

[ginnyinWI]

8. the way the question is posed--

will screw it up. It says "who do you think has the best chance", not "who do you like best". So some will answer it one way, and some the other way. Useless.

[karynnj]

11. I'm amazed that the 2008 fight is heating up even as we

approach 2006. (There's a nasty Clark/Edwards thread on DU-P - the OP is about Wes Clark's son. It is interesting - though we're bystanders.)