Edwards is Top Democrat in Kentucky (Edwards only Democrat to beat Giuliani in hypothetical matchup)

[JohnLocke]

Edwards is Top Democrat in Kentucky
Angus Reid Global Monitor
Thursday, May 10, 2007
----
Many adults in Kentucky would vote for Republican Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 United States presidential election, according to a poll by SurveyUSA released by WCPO-TV. 54 per cent of respondents in the Bluegrass State would support the former New York City mayor, while 38 per cent would vote for Democratic Illinois senator Barack Obama.
Giuliani holds a two-point lead over New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, but trails former North Carolina senator John Edwards by three points.
In 2004, Republican George W. Bush carried Kentucky’s eight electoral votes, with 60 per cent of all cast ballots. The Bluegrass State has picked the eventual White House dweller in every presidential election since 1964.

A few questions now about the next election. If there were an election for President of the United States today, and the only two names on the ballot were (the following) who would you vote for?

Rudy Giuliani (R) 48% - 46% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
Rudy Giuliani (R) 44% - 47% John Edwards (D)
Rudy Giuliani (R) 54% - 38% Barack Obama (D)

Source: SurveyUSA / WCPO-TV
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 536, 535 and 533 registered Kentucky voters, conducted from Apr. 13 to Apr. 15, 2007. Margin of error is 4.3 per cent.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/15684

[IndianaGreen]

1. K&R

Edwards is doing very well in the Midwest, except in Illinois.

[JohnLocke]

2. whoops, wrong post, meant to make a new OP...

[rufus dog]

3. I guess we need to write off Kentucky

But seriously, there seems to be a great deal of Edwards Cheerleading going on. Help me out because I don't get it, what makes him the best choice to be President?

[FrenchieCat]

4. He's the only White Guy from the South running.......

and therefore, wins the title of the "Oh So Electable One" by default! If two of those were running instead of one, and the other one had foreign policy credibility, then Edwards wouldn't look so "electable".

[Tejanocrat]

6. I think Obama loses more votes in the South from his gun control views than from race, and HRC has

high negatives in the South which have little to do with gender. Texas has a woman Senator (Kay Bailey Hutchison), as does Louisiana (Mary Landrieu), and North Carolina (Elizabeth Dole).

You sell the voters short.

[JI7]

8. how is Obama's position on gun control different from other candidates ?

[Tejanocrat]

14. Obama's voted to ban semi-automatics, increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of

guns, and require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks.

Source: 1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test July 2, 1998

In his book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama wrote:

"I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer's lobby. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone disrespected him, we have a problem of morality. Not only do we need to punish that man for his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there's a hole in his heart, one that government programs alone may not be able to repair."

Contrast that with Richardson, who gets more support from the NRA than the Repu candidates: "the most gun-friendly candidate from either party at this point is a Democrat, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He has consistently received endorsements from the NRA and he is the only candidate for president in 2008 who has publicly stated that he holds a concealed carry permit." http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/news/bill-richardson-on-gun-control/

[soswolf]

15. Elizabeth Dole

hardly qualifies as a Senator.
She got elected because she posed and smiled with President Bush, and she was running against Bill Clinton's former Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles. My wife helped with some of the phone polling that year, and she spoke to a number of people who wouldn't vote for Bowles just because of the Clinton connection. Sad, too. He would have been a damn sight better than the absentee Senator we have now.

[Tejanocrat]

16. I agree about Dole, but it still belies the stereotype that Southerners won't vote for a woman.

[Forkboy]

11. You might as well just add,"and if cats were allowed to vote."

:shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

5. Unlike Hillary and Obama, Edwards doesn't want to keep a "residual" force in Iraq

to, as Hillary told AIPAC, oppose Iran, defend the oil, and protect Israel.

Any military presence in Iraq is nothing but a lower PR profile of the current war.

[Forkboy]

10. Don't wait for us to tell you what to think of someone...find out yourself.

Then once you find out if you like him or not we'll tell you why you're crazy either way.

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[SLadd]

17. Edwards is more honest and direct

Hillary tests the political winds before speaking; no vision of her own. Obama talks in intangibles and squirms away from risky opinions; hides his vision. Edwards goes to the core of an issue and does so with compassion. Forget about his hair and house, that stuff doesn't mean anything. If one is poor, honest, and hardworking, then Edwards is the candidate to support If one is rich and out for more riches, then he's probably not the right candidate to support.

[newyawker99]

22. SLadd!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[newyawker99]

21. Hi rufus dog!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[jillan]

7. Will he be able to carry South Carolina this time?- that is the real

question.

[w4rma]

9. Does it really matter? We win Kentucky, we win the whole shebang.

Wow. Just wow. Edwards polls better against Repukes than I ever thought he did.

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Kentucky is irrelevant but these numbers are not

If we carry Kentucky we win 400 electoral votes. So this specific poll doesn't matter, other than further evidence Edwards is our best hope in '08. He has pull from voting blocks that Hillary and Obama do not. Edwards' problem is getting the nomination, not winning a general election.

Same thing with Guiliani on the other side. He's their best shot at carrying the November vote but he may not get there. A nightmare scenario for us if if the GOP handicaps electability correctly and identifies Guiliani despite his issue problems, and we blow electability again, similar to '04, and deny the nomination to Edwards. Obama might be able to defeat Guiliani but I would be hard pressed to see Hillary doing it.

[JohnLocke]

13. Kick (nt).

[frazzled]

18. What is really being said ...

is that Kentucky voters don't really want to vote for a woman or a black man. Not terribly surprising, but what is surprising is seeing people here tacitly applauding that. It's a sad comment that discussions of so-called "electability" here are reallly subtle ways of saying Americans likes them their white males, so let's go with that. Personally, I think it's time to lead, not follow, the country in such matters.

[FrenchieCat]

19. Bingo!

Even Democrats are now talking in "Codes". What "Electable" means this election season on the Democratic side is Running while White, male and Southern. Too bad that couldn't have been the case in 2004, cause then at least we had one of those who also had foreign policy/national security credentials! :eyes:

[Awsi Dooger]

20. Acknowledging, not applauding

I talk to many backwards while males every day here in Las Vegas. They have come here from throughout the country to bet sports where it is legal. In 2004 they told me they didn't like John Kerry. This time they say they won't vote for a woman for president, period, regardless who it is. They are less reluctant about voting for a black guy. Edwards is their favorite recent Democrat.

I'm just throwing that out there for information purposes. There are probably more people like that in Kentucky than in less red states, but I don't think it's wise to ignore the base reality especially considering the conservative bent of vital states Ohio, Virginia and Florida. I certainly don't want to force feed a candidate upon those states and then be shocked when he/she is rejected.

[skipos]

23. Edwards tends to perform the best in gen election polls, Hillary the worst

Obama in the middle (of our top three frontunners). This isn't just in red states like KY, this is in national polls.


Hillary is my last choice for the nomination, and I can assure you it has nothing to do with her sex.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

24. That is a weak excuse IMO

The woman issue cuts both ways. For every male who will vote against HRC because she is a woman there will be a woman who will vote for her because she is the only woman in the field. The gender excuse for HRC also ignores how polarizing she has been for years. Some of that is because she is a strong woman (which also scores her some points. These things are not one way streets) but is all of it? Of course not. There are many women holding high offices. They are not nearly as polarizing in their states or districts as HRC is.

While Obama's race must cost him some points, his main selling point is his ability to appeal to different types of people (that is the premise of his "unity" theme). Are we saying that his main selling point is false?

Obama polls better than HRC, Richardson, Dodd, and Biden against Republicans. He obviously would do better in a general election than Kucinich and Gravel. All of these candidates are white. Only Edwards does better against Republicans than Obama. Perhaps that is because of something other than Edwards' race, something he has that HRC, Richardson, Dodd, Biden, Kucinich, and Gravel apparently do not have?

[JohnLocke]

25. That's not true.

Edwards is doing well because he's a great candidate, not because of Clinton or Obama...