Pres 2008: presidential straw poll

[T Roosevelt]

dailykos has their first presidential straw poll, and I thought it would be interesting to see the outcome here.

Kos has more than ten selections, so I dropped Tom Vilsack - personal poll creator perogative.

[brainshrub]

1. Boxer.

[AllyCat]

7. If Clark isn't in it, I will vote for Boxer

Normally, I do not support Senators for POTUS, but she is one who has stood by her guns and consistently fights for the American people. We need a strong President and a strong woman is just fine by me.

[babylonsister]

11. Has Boxer even expressed any interest??? nt

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. NONE of the above

Boxer or Conyers

[dhinojosa]

3. Lame.......

We should worry about 2006, and Bush's subsequent impeachment and not 2008.... I love polls, but I have seen so many of these "who in 2008" now it's nauseating.

[flaminbats]

24. in 1993 most Repukes didn't even care about 1996..

until 1995, they treated Clinton as a basic necessity for winning

[GreenArrow]

4. Feingold is the only one I'd even consider

the others...

[johnaries]

5. Where's Al Gore?

personally:
#1 choice - AL
#2 Kerry
#3 Clark
#4 Edwards.
But, any of them would make me happy.

[T Roosevelt]

15. I pirated this from kos

Gore wasn't on his list...

[laugle]

22. I guess he's under OTHER... n/t

[jojo54]

6. Notice J.K. isn't there? Ha, Ha, Ha.......... n/t

[babylonsister]

9. J.K. who? nt

[dhinojosa]

12. J.K. Rowling I guess.

[jojo54]

16. Oops!

Thinking Kerry, but he is there. Damn, I hate trying to be on DU when the grandkids are running around fighting with each other. My attention drifts a lot.

[Darkamber]

8. Clark will win here hands down...

Best to look at the results for the rest and assume that in DU that Clark will win any poll with his name in it by a landslide.

[Clark2008]

28. Clark's also winning at KOS

So.. do we have to skim over that one, too?

:eyes:

[Desertrose]

10. Kucinich is still the one

Kucinich & Boxer.
Nice combo if you ask me:)

[LittleClarkie]

21. Has either expressed any interest?

I haven't heard.

[nickshepDEM]

13. Governor Warner...

[JHBowden]

14. Where is President Gore?

Right now I tentatively want Warner, though if Gore were in the race, I'd probably support him.

[quinnox]

17. Hillary C.

She will steamroll all opposition in my opinion. And it would be wonderful to see the republicans squirm.

[In Truth We Trust]

18. Looks like a Dlc reunion list. I voted other. I prefer my dems top be real

progressive liberals and not DINO's or repug lite corp. water boy's.

[AntiCoup2K4]

47. No shit! I'm getting tired of these bullshit 2008 polls

When it's only obvious who's pushing them by the roster of corporatist, right wing appeasing spineless DLC candidates that show up on every list.

[T Roosevelt]

19. For the record, I think Al Gore is the best of the group

with Clark as his running mate.

[mithnanthy]

54. I agree....

Al Gore and Wesley Clark as his running mate.

[NJ Democrats]

20. Feingold all the way!!!

[iwantmycountryback]

23. I'm with you

He is a great candidate. And he's actually second on the DKos poll behind Clark.

[FrenchieCat]

51. I thought

"No Friggin' Clue" was in 2nd place? Did that change? That's how they reported on the poll on CNN. They didn't even mention that Wes had won....just the fact that "No Friggin Clue" was in 2nd place. I think that Russ is in 3rd place at 11%.

[Robeson]

25. Another here for Gore.

[Carolab]

26. Other. Al Gore, Howard Dean or someone else. n/t

[Guaranteed]

27. Al Gore. nt

[FrenchieCat]

29. Come on'

I mean, can't someone give Biden a vote again?

The guy should have at least one.

Don't look at me, I ain't voting for the guy!

[Jai4WKC08]

30. I just checked the latest vote tally at dKos

8932 total votes votes have been cast in less than 24 hours. Wes Clark has 26% of the vote. That's well over 2300 votes.

Can we finally put to bed the charge that Clarkies skew polls, here or anywhere else? There's no way there are enough active "Clark Community Network" bloggers to make up that large of a vote for the General.

I'd be the first to admit that 2300 votes is not enough to win the 2008 nomination. But it does show that Wes Clark is extremely well liked and respected by the Democratic on-line community. He always has been. It's where the draft started, where he raised his small-donor money (and his average contribution was as low as anyone's but Kucinich's), how he organized his grassroots. I'm so flippin' tired of DUers who whine about how Clark wins every poll. Duh, people. He wins because there are a lot of us out here.

If anyone's interested, the next closest to Clark is "No frickin' clue" at 16%. The closest real live person is Russ Feingold with 11%. Hillary Clinton has 10% and "Other" has 7% (which, by the comments left, appears to be largely, but not exclusively, Gore supporters). Every other candidate comes in below "Other."

[ecstatic]

33. I bet 80% of Americans don't know who Wes Clark is

Hillary is the popular choice.

[Jai4WKC08]

35. Clinton has name recognition

Sorry, but I don't like to call her by her first name. It's disrespectful.

But that's all she's got that counts this early in the game. Yeah, I know... for the long haul, she's got money, contacts, and the media loves to talk about her. But she's also got major baggage, a Senate record, and no executive experience. And a husband who will help and hurt her at the same time.

Remember, the Democratic Party has a long history of NOT choosing the early front-runner. It was Lieberman this early in the last cycle. And that was mostly name recognition as well.

I won't argue with you that 80% of Americans don't know who Wes Clark is. It could very well be more than that. But it's a long way to 2008 and he has lots of time to rectify the situation. The point is, when people learn about Clark, when they listen to him, do they like him? I think you're gonna find that they do.

[BamaLefty]

48. I Voted For Clark

I really like him. :patriot:

[Clarkie1]

50. That can change very quickly.

Bill Clinton didn't have name recognition either, remember?

A lot of people will remember Clark from last time around anyway, especially the ones who bother to vote in primaries.

[ecstatic]

31. Hillary

Is the only person I trust from that list.

[Guaranteed]

32. Another vote for Al Gore. I'm voting twice.

I'm pretty sure on this. :)

[Mich Otter]

34. Which candidate would best support National Health Care?

My vote goes to Russ Feingold.

[FrenchieCat]

36. "Ok, But which candidate could actual find the money to fund

the health care by cutting Pentagon Pork?"

My vote goes to Wes Clark.

[Mich Otter]

44. "cutting Pentagon Pork?"

It is my belief that we would have to close most of America's overseas military bases and reduce expenditures on programs like missile defense to pay for a national health care program. If we get our military out of other people's countries, maybe they would learn to hate us less.
If we get serious about health care in America, we will have to get after the polluters who are causing a lot of health care problems. Corporate America is gonna strongly resist having to improve the way they do business.
Health care looms as a tremendous battleground as the doctors, insurance companies, hospitals and drug companies fight to keep their "for humongous profit" system in place.
I like Wes Clack, but have not heard much of how he would get health care set up.
Whichever Democrat gets the nomination is going to get my support. Some candidates will get more support than others. Any Democrat is better than any Republican in my book. The Republicans have brought us too many attempts at world domination. We, (America that is), need to learn to let others live their lives and stop interfering whenever Global Corporations want government change in other countries.

[Donna Zen]

45. CBS news--before it got trashed

once reported that the Pentagon cannot account for the equivalent of $8,000 each year per every man, woman, and child in this country.

Clark calls it "the make want budget."

We no longer audit the Pentagon. Imagine that.

Clark does not believe that "star wars" makes us safer.

What the cost of this war will end up being in wrecked tanks and wasted waste is anyone guess.

There is big time fraud at the Pentagon. He explains part of the problem in "Winning Modern War." Reading what he had to say, I realized that the MIC would do anything to stop him from gaining power. My friend in Seattle tells me that Boeing was shaking in their corporate shoes when faced with a Wes Clark.

Only Nixon could go to China, only a general can go to the Pentagon.

[Bucky]

37. Any of the above

No fratricide this time. No flaking out and calling each other "closet Republican" which is an undeserved, slimy attack. Whoever we nominate, I'll back. I'll fight like hell before the primaries are over, but I'm vowing to keep this one positive.

Actually, I thought we did real good in '04 on this count, keeping the debate on the four square and addressing substantive issues--including the touchy subject of electibility. The only thing that sucked was the reckless "DINO" smears--not even Lieberman deserved that lie.

So nominate who we will, I know where my vote goes when there's a Republican on the other side of that ticket.

[mvd]

38. Too early for me to say, but..

I've heard that Warner has turned around Virginia's economy. That should be a big plus. I'd prefer someone more liberal, but he has promise as a candidate.

[election_2004]

39. Problem with these candidates....

All of these candidates listed - - with the exceptions of Edwards and Warner - - all have charisma problems and are not the best speakers on the campaign trail (yes, that includes Gore and Clark ,too!).

The problem is that Edwards has no standing to run for president anymore, and Warner has a questionable length of executive experience for being at the top of the ticket.

Now I'm not saying that the "charisma" factor is most important or should trump everything else in choosing a presidential nominee. But it is most definitely a critical component to ensure a presidential sweep.

Bill Clinton "outcharisma-ed" his opponents in 1992 and 1996. By contrast, Gore and Kerry had some major likability and charisma problems in 2000 and 2004, despite their records.

The candidate who can most effectively charm her audience (of voters) while simultaneously cutting her rightwing opponent down to size - - is U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln:

http://www.lincoln2008.com

[Jai4WKC08]

46. "Charisma" is totally subjective

It also varies greatly by age, gender, and probably a bunch of cultural factors as well. So what a 25yo woman from the NW finds charismatic in a potential leader or other public person is likely to be quite different from what a 50yo man in the South might find. For that matter, what one 25yo thinks is charismatic will be different than what another 25yo thinks, altho I do think there are trends within groups.

A lot of charisma comes down to marketing as well. You'd find a whole lot of people think Bush has charisma (blech!) but I think it's just because he's had a lot of money and the media it buys pushing a certain image that bears little relation to reality.

In any case, you have no basis whatsoever to say that Edwards or Warner is charismatic and Clark and Gore are not. That's your opinion pure and simple.

I find Clark as charismatic as hell, Gore a lot less so, and Edwards not at all. Warner seems downright... well, whatever the opposite of charismatic is. Repulsive? Sounds harsh, but the opposite of the attraction I associate with charisma. And I don't mean a sexual attraction, altho I suppose sexuality has something to do with it at some level, and for both genders.

Others like yourself see it the exact opposite. Neither of us is right or wrong, just different.

There have been studies to try to quantify charisma but I don't know that any of them have been particularly successful. If anyone could really define and measure it, they could probably make a helluva lot of money in political consulting, or the entertainment biz, and I haven't seen anyone pull that off, for all that some may claim that they can.

[election_2004]

53. The people who think Bush has "charisma"....

...are lost causes, and aren't going to change their vote unless the Democrats nominate someone who has near-universal visceral appeal. Though in reality, that's a tall order for any candidate from any party to meet.

Also, I don't personally have any problems with Clark's presentation...but I know other people who do - - they think he's a dud.

I think the overlying question is: how are we going to determine which of the potential candidates has the best degree of charisma and can be marketed most successfully. We're really going to need to get beyond such a primary reliance on these random "focus groups" of wishy-washy sheeple.

[HamdenRice]

40. AL GORE, AL GORE, AL GORE!!!

Sorry to shout at ya, but I can't believe he's not included in the poll. He has already beat shrub once, and unlike Kerry, the stealing of the election really seems to have been a transformative experience for him. Most of our greatest leaders have had transformative experiences -- FDR's polio; for RFK, the assassination of JFK and the trip to appalachia; for Ted Kennedy the assassinations of both brothers; for MLK the famous kitchen crisis/conversion; and for Malcolm X, the trip to Mecca. Bizarrely, the stolen election of 2004 has had little effect on John "Lurch" Kerry.

Because of this, Al Gore really understands that there has been a coup by a group of ruthless, bloodthirsty neo-cons. I believe he's the only Dem leader with a real fire in the belly who can save the country at this point.

[HamdenRice]

41. One more dream candidate: JOHN CONYERS!!! Barbara Boxer for VP

Right now they are the only ACTIVE heroes of our party, because they have demonstrated that they understand the criminal, lawless, illegality of the current regime.

[baron j]

43. I'll second your nomination!

Both have heart and guts.

[T Roosevelt]

42. dkos straw poll results (6/21/05)

Interesting - last column is DU %

1. Clark............26...(3,496)...43
   
2. No Freakin' Clue.17...(2,320)...NA
   
3. Clinton..........10...(1,461)....9
   
4. Feingold.........10...(1,433)....6
   
5. Edwards...........8...(1,077)....8
   
6. Other.............7...(1,088)...11
   
7. Warner............5.....(689)....4
   
8. Richardson........4.....(659)....2
   
9. Biden.............3.....(497)...<1 (hahahaha)
   
10. Kerry.............2.....(341)...16
    
11. Bayh..............2.....(328)...<1
    
12. Vilsack...........0......(88)...(part of DU other)
    

Also interesting was this:

So what do we know? The field is clearly wide open, and there's a sense that we can do better than this lot. Gore, in particular, seems to have a lot of potential support if he were to express interest in running (he hasn't).

BTW - how the HELL do you do even columns?

[Clarkie1]

49. Clark and Kerry both enjoy significantly stronger support on DU than Kos.

Interesting.

[jsw_81]

52. Kerry!

He's my man in '08.

[Uncle Joe]

55. This is no poll

Any poll that does not include President Al Gore is no poll. Do you realize how difficult it will be for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to swear in President Other.

[kwolf68]

56. Gore is my #1

... I didnt want him to run in 2004, but that wasn't because I didn't think he was the best man...I just didn't want it to become a circus...well it became a circus, we get 4 more years of Shrub and the pooch gets screwed.

Gore will make a run at this in 2008 and we will fix this shit Bush leaves...

Gore on the Top of the ticket and Mark Warner or Evan Bayh on the bottom of the ticket...Feingold is another #2 candidate and would help that pesky get those pesky Wisconsin EVs.