WASHINGTON — By tradition, Labor Day is the political starting gun

WASHINGTON — By tradition, Labor Day is the political starting gun, the time when voters tend to notice the race for the Presidency.

Through the years, the presumptive front-runners have discovered that Labor Day is either the beginning of the glide path to the nomination and the White House or the time they acquire a giant bull’s-eye on their back.

It just depends on the political party.

“Democrats traditionally don’t have all that much respect for front-runners,” said political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. “They view them more as targets.”

Consider a recent list of early leaders from Labor Day weekends’ past — Mario Cuomo in 1991, Gary Hart in 1987 and Ted Kennedy in 1979. All three led in national polls in September, months before the caucuses and primaries. All three never won the party’s nomination and if they’ve spent any time in the West Wing, it’s been as a visitor


http://www.theunionleader.com/prez_show.html?article=25609

Two-thirds of voters — including two-thirds of Democrats — were unable to name any of the Democratic candidates for president, said the poll, released Sunday.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/959775.asp?0cv=CB20