Question for Edwards supporters

[hogwyld]

I have read poll after poll here in GDP, and Edwards always wins. How can he be doing so poorly in the actual primaries? Do you think the media is manipulating the voting?

[Critters2]

1. I think the media are manipulating the message. nt

[hogwyld]

2. I'm starting to agree

As they don't seem to cover him all that much.

[NastyRiffraff]

3. No, I think DU is non-representative of the country

That's why a lot of DU-ers get a shock when actual votes come in. We should all get out on the streets and work for our candidate of choice.

[hogwyld]

10. But the problem I see

Is that most everyone I interact with likes Edwards, but for some reason, it doesn't translate into the votes. By the way, our state hasn't had it's primary yet, so we'll see. Maybe the states that have voted so far are just plain too conservative.

[never_get_over_it]

11. I think you're right

AND the media is making this a two person race - and voters want to back the winner....bandwagon

By the way its not just DU most of the polls Thom Hartmann runs Edwards or Kucinich win/won....and Obama and Clinton usally get very few votes

which says to me most people don't really follow the issues of the campaign but the personalities and the popularity contest aspect which is what they get by letting the M$M deliver the message instead of seeking the info out as most of us here have done and most of the people who listen to Thom Hartmann....

[cloudbase]

4. GDP isn't exactly reflective of voters in general. n/t

[hogwyld]

6. So would you consider DU

To be the crazy uncle of the Democratic party?

[cloudbase]

12. Hardly.

But, I would say that many of the folks here are really into their politics, and aren't shy about sharing their opinions with others here.

[hogwyld]

16. I tend to agree with you

In that the people here seem to care a LOT more and hence do their homework. The average person either doesn't have the time, or the inclination to actually look at the issues before plopping the lever. They see what celebrity is endorsing whom, and what the talking heads on TV tell them to do.

[begin_within]

5. Edwards gets almost no airtime in the commercial media.

[hogwyld]

21. Maybe he needs to get on more news shows

I'm sure if he went to the producers of 60 minutes for an interview, they would be thrilled. I know going town to town is a good way to get to the everyman, but maybe he should take a day, and spend it with the media.

[begin_within]

27. That would be great.

[Fresh_Start]

7. voters have different priorities and different needs

and as a society we like new things
you need only look at our consumerism to realize that new is highly valued
products are marketed as 'new and improved' not 'old but improved'
I don't think anything but the media blackout is of sinister intent

thats not to diminish that he's had some more than regretable votes as well

[Armstead]

8. The media is manipulating exposure of candidates

When the primaries are constantly described and covered as a two-person race, it becomes a defacto two person race.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. Remember Biden. Not to mention Richardson and Kucinich and Dodd.

They all got a lot more respect and had a greater following here than outside DU.
Most people are manipulated by what they see in the media and don't do their own legwork.

[SeattleGirl]

13. They are manipulating the primaries, in that they are choosing

who gets to be heard and who doesn't.

I like Kuchinich a lot,and yet he was shut out of the debates early on, whereas on the GOP side, they haven't done that.

They barely let Kucinich be heard, and they are doing that a lot with Edwards too.

I am utterly sick of the media treating us like children who can't make up their own minds.

[hogwyld]

19. I was really disappointed that the excluded DK

I would have like to hear all viewpoints in order to make an informed decision. Why did the DNC allow the media to censor one of their own candidats?

[SeattleGirl]

28. Maybe they were just as scared of Kucinich's message as the M$M is.

Sad that it's come to this.

[Rydz777]

14. I'm voting for Edwards on Super Tuesday. And I'm wondering

why he got virtually no AA votes (2 percent)in South Carolina. Does he have the wrong skin color?

[bluestateguy]

15. He also wins in the Daily Kos polls

It's possible for someone to have a big following on the internet but less of a following among people who don't rely on the internet for their main source of political information.

[OzarkDem]

17. Media and corporate donors are manipulating the primary

The push is for Obama or Clinton because they are the most vulnerable candidates for the general election.

Candidate support in the Dem primaries is not indicative of how the general public will vote in the GE. The infusion of cash is distorting Dem voter preferences in the primary and they will be brought sharply into focus in the GE when the rest of the electorate doesn't jump on the Obama or Clinton bandwagon that the news media has been pushing.

[hogwyld]

20. Is it possible that maybe some in the party

are complicit in some of the censorship of voices? Example: Dennis Kucinich.

[Beaverhausen]

18. He also wins in most straw polls of local democratic groups

he does best among informed, active voters and obviously, not so well with the masses. Think the fact that the media gives him very little attention might have something to do with it?

[Critters2]

22. Open primaries are a problem, too, imo.

Democrats should choose the Dem candidate.

[hogwyld]

23. Yeah, but open primaries cut both ways

What's to keep a Dem voter from voting for Huckleberry just to spite the R's?

[Critters2]

24. Huck isn't working to get Dems to vote for him,

the way Obama has been.

[hogwyld]

25. I agree, but my point was

If the R's are crossing over to nominate the "weakest" opponent as they're afraid of JRE, then what's to keep the D's from nominating someone other than McCain in the hopes of an easy victory in November?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

26. I think the media is censoring Edwards. If they weren't, Edwards would be *the* frontrunner....

We in DU are dedicated followers of all kinds of news from all kinds of sources and we're highly knowledgeable. The media can't lie to us try as it may.