Polls

[Mountain_Luvin]

Bush 45 Kerry 44... its gonna be a close one! Both of them are douchebags, but it'll be fun to watch y'all yammering about how florida counted wrong and new york counted wrong ad nauseum.

[willstrickland]

New York? WTF Scott?

 

Here are the latest poll results:

 

Fox News: Bush 40% Kerry 40% Nader 3%

Inv. Bus Daily: Bush 42% Kerry 40% Nader 7%

Newsweek: Bush 42% Kerry 43% Nader 5%

Time/CNN: Bush 44% Kerry 49% Nader 6%

Zogby: Bush 42% Kerry 47% Nader 3%

Gallup: Bush 47% Kerry 45% Nader 5%

Pew: Bush 43% Kerry 46% Nader 6%

 

Sounds like a dead heat to me. But two things bode well for Kerry. One is he really hasn't been campaigning, chosen a running mate, or debated. Two is that late decision swing voters historically don't vote for the incumbent.

 

He's really going to have to fight his oratorical tendencies and come up with a clear platform/message/plan (Edwards would be the best to help him there) and he's going to have to appeal to the Nader-ites.

[Mountain_Luvin]

Ths will probably be the worst debate in history. One is a complete ass and the other has flipped flopped on so many issues that it makes your head spin. I ownder what kind of Bushisms were are gonna hear in that one... "Kerry is a chronical flipper flopperer...er... uh er." Too bad Dean won't make it because that would have been the first time a candidate has attacked another candidate. Either way, I am getting a rack of beer and watching the proceedings.

[JoshK]

The more debates...the better for Kerry. Bush can't string together a coherent sentence when it's in a pre-written speech. It comes out even worse when he has to..uhh...think...on his feet.

[barkernews]

Yeah. Kerry's slick. But he has just a tiny bit more personality than Bob Dole. It's Kerry race to lose... but who'll he choose as a running mate? A bore like Gephart (bore+bore=more bush) or someone with spunk like Dean (they appeared on stage together in the People's Republic of Portland.)

[Off_White]

I think Dean himself said it would be a bad idea to put him as VP, simply for the fact that the ticket does not need two people from the NE. I'd say look for someone from the south (edwards?) or the west, but then again they haven't exactly put me in charge of that committee.

[catbirdseat]

There was an article in the New York Times the other day about how chummy Kerry and Dean were becoming. I didn't quite know what to make of it.

 

Political Odd Couple Forges Friendship

By JODI WILGOREN

 

Published: May 19, 2004

 

 

ORTLAND, Ore., May 18 - Sitting across from each other Monday night at Higgins, one of this city's best-known restaurants, Senator John Kerry and Howard Dean talked health care. They both had the halibut. Then on Tuesday, they spent most of a four-hour plane ride sitting side by side, even playing a round of hearts (this time, Dr. Dean won).

 

This year's political odd couple, it seems, are forging a friendship, as sure a sign as any of a Democratic Party unified in wanting to oust President Bush.

 

"It was really nice. He walked into the restaurant and everybody applauded; I walked in and everybody applauded," Mr. Kerry, the presumptive presidential nominee, said of his vanquished rival. "We looked at each other and said, 'Did anybody think five months ago that we'd be doing this?' ''

 

Not, surely, anybody who was listening as Dr. Dean lambasted Mr. Kerry as being beholden to Washington special interests, or as Mr. Kerry blasted Dr. Dean as lacking the temperament to run the country.

 

Remember last fall, when an exasperated Senator Kerry, besieged by questions about the success of his bitterest rival, mumbled, "Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean" into a live television microphone? That was Dr. Dean sitting silently in Mr. Kerry's shadow here Tuesday morning, a smile of sorts breaking the bored look when Mr. Kerry, after an hour of going on about creating jobs, appropriated Dr. Dean's most famous line, and told the audience, "You have the power."

 

Later, as the Kerry entourage flew across the country to Washington, D.C., Dr. Dean, a former governor of Vermont, told reporters, "I was admiring the craft."

 

He suggested that a special bond existed among the nine candidates who shared stages dozens of times through the primaries. "I think there really is a fraternity-slash-sorority to this," he said. "I admire John Kerry for what he did. I certainly admire him for" - he went on to use an expletive to describe his defeat in Iowa. The two men immediately exchanged high-fives after the comment. Mr. Kerry, for his part, thanked Dr. Dean on Monday evening at a rally of about 4,000 people, many of them Deaniacs, "for helping to awaken the Democratic Party, to awaken our country."

 

"This man broke through American politics months ago and excited everybody with his directness, with his passion about the war, with his sense of right and wrong," Mr. Kerry added on Tuesday morning at the forum. "He helped to focus the conversation of this election in a way that very few people did."

 

Dr. Dean, who has transformed his campaign organization into a political action group called Democracy for America, said he was now on the road four days a week instead of six. About half of that travel, he said, is on Mr. Kerry's behalf.

 

Last week, Dr. Dean met with Mr. Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, to strategize about the Internet and the youth vote. On Monday, he posted another of his campaign's signature "bats" on his Web site, this time charting a challenge to collect $500,000 for Mr. Kerry.

 

"I think it's time we had a new president," Dr. Dean said at the Portland forum, "and that president's name is John Kerry."

 

Aboard the Kerry plane, Dr. Dean seemed to have found new discipline, declining to comment on such things as his vice-presidential preferences. During the hearts game, Dr. Dean perched on a stack of ottomans, while Mr. Kerry stretched out in his first-class seat. Dr. Dean successfully shot the moon; Mr. Kerry tried and failed. "I played a purposefully risky game," Mr. Kerry said afterward.

 

Shown a pack of Kerry playing cards, which have replaced the fast-selling Dean Decks at the nostalgia stands outside campaign events, Dr. Dean laughed and said, "I think I went from the ace of spades to the two of clubs."

 

Actually, he graces the jack of hearts, holding - in commemoration of his Iowa concession speech - a little placard that says, "I scream for Kerry."

[Alex]

I think thats still close, but as you say the campaign hasnt really even started yet.

 

I would like to see a popular and electoral vote that can't be hijacked by the Supreme Court or other family members who hold Governorships of Florida.

[glacier]

He's really going to have to fight his oratorical tendencies and come up with a clear platform/message/plan

 

Slate.com now has a Kerryism feature to complement their Bushisms feature.

 

The obfuscating versus the inarticulate. Let the cage match begin.

[JoshK]

he needs to pick Edwards! That guy is sweet. Southern, confident, well spoken, well liked, not ugly (something Kerry and Bush cannot claim) and just damn cool.

[Dru]

what if kerry chose nader as his vp????

[Off_White]

what if kerry chose nader as his vp????

 

You get the Catbirdseat award for the day, Dru.

[Dru]

no if I wanted the CBS award for the day I would say "If Kerry chooses Nader as his VP, he will win the election. It's the only logical choice for him to make."

[willstrickland]

I believe Bill Richardson is actually the best suited/most qualified, but I believe Edwards would help the campaign much more. Kerry would be wise to adopt Edwards "Two Americas" theme and as Josh said being young, southern, handsome, likeable, and articulate are bonus. (Hey, that sounds like me! well, except for the likeable part )

[glacier]

From The New Republic (www.tnr.com)

 

5/16/04

 

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NEW ZOGBY POLL: Bush's job approval is down to 42 percent. His approval on Iraq is down to 36 percent. Kerry is up by five points in the horserace (47-42). Right track/wrong track is at 54/40. The percentage who say it's "time for someone new" is at 53 percent. Kerry favorability is at 55 percent. Bush favorability is at 52 percent. Bush and Kerry are tied in the red states (45-45).

 

Kerry leads in the Blue states (49-38), the East (53-36), the West (45-44), the central Great Lakes (47-41), and among progressives, (81-12), liberals (79-12), moderates (55-30), Hispanics (59-39), African-Americans (85-6), Democrats (84-9), and Independents (46-37).

 

Bush leads in the South (47-43) and among conservatives (71-19), Whites (46-42), Asians (63-37), Republicans (81-8), and Libertarians (80-0). Not exactly a majority coalition."