Rank the Democratic candidates.

From favorite to least favorite, here's mine of those who have made early declarations of their candidacy:


1. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
2. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
3. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
4. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
5. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
6. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
7. Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina


The things I value most in a candidate are an integrity, proven good judgment, values, and leadership skills.

1. Kucinich
2. Richardson
3. Obama
4. Biden
5. Hillary
6. Edwards
7. Dodd

And I will not participate in a circular firing squad this time around. Although I personally prefer some to others, what it all boils down to is that they are all good Democrats, and I would vote for any one of them over any Republican.

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina































Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio

Tie at the top between...
1. Edwards
1. Obama
drop off...

3. Richardson
4. Dodd
drop off...

5. Kucinich

big,
big,
big,
big,
big,
big,
drop off to

6. Biden
7. Hillary

1. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
2. Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
3. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
4. Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
5. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
6. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
7. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
..
..
..
..

10. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York

1. President-Elect Al Gore
2. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
3. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
4. President-Elect John F. Kerry
5. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
6. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
7. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 Senator Byrd
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30 Senator Nelson
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50. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
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98. Senator Joe LIEberman of Connecticut
99. Zell Miller
100. Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey

those who can win the general election and those who can't.

Edwards - can win the general election


Favorites of those who can't win the general election are:
Obama - might win, but i doubt it
Clinton
Richardson
Dodd
Biden
Dennis

First, electability arguments suck ass. Second, the only unelectable people this time around are anyone the Republicans put up. Third, John Edwards does not need electability arguments to win.

Just a little friendly advice from a fellow Edwards supporter.

to say that electability doesn't matter. Electability is ALL that matters on that day, and I can't iamgine how it could not be. Please do not be lured into the idea that all our Dems are electable in November 2008; most of them are not. We can not underestimate the repukes' ability to steal yet another election, and/or smear our nominees with one shit attack after another, that will sucker the undecideds away from them. It doesn't take much to do that!

Using electability in 2004 wasn't the problem. The idiocy was identifying a bland New England senator with sentences that never stop as most electable. Many of us here and elsewhere warned for more than a year that it was garbage. I remember posting in early 2003 on this board that, "John Kerry is just good enough to get you beat." I still have no idea how a military background was deemed helpful as opposed to charisma and populism. Edwards was easily our best hope to oust an incumbent.

BTW, no one familiar with Nevada 2006 would dismiss electability. Dina Titus was known to be much more liberal than this state prefers and she had obvious liability in northern Nevada due to old comments made in the state legislature. The base preferred to roll the dice with Titus instead of the more moderate and electable Jim Gibson. Now I'm seeing posts in the Nevada forum and elsewhere baffled that Jim Gibbons won the Nevada governorship despite all his scandals. Duh. It was pure electability. Every Nevada analyst says Gibson would have defeated Gibbons somewhat comfortably, given what transpired in the final month. Dismiss electability at our continued peril. The idea is to handicap correctly.

In 2008 I would rate my preference:

* Edwards
* Obama
* Clinton
* Richardson
* Biden
* Dodd
* Kucinich

Edwards and Obama are virtually 1 and 1a. Then a dropoff to Hillary. The rest don't have a chance so the order is mostly irrelevant.

If I vote for someone based on what other people think, I might as well go ahead and let them vote for me. My vote, my voice in our democracy, not yours, not Joe or Jane Swing-voter's.

:rofl:

He's clearly our best hope at taking Ohio and that state will determine the election. Recent Ohio polls revealed Edwards' strength compared to Obama or Hillary. Edwards steals a point or two here and there from vital blocks. It's possible Obama will eventually match Edwards in Ohio, but I'm very skeptical that base-conservative states like Ohio, Florida or Virginia will give their electoral votes to a woman or a black man. Those states have no history of electing women to major statewide offices like gov or senator.

Why am I not surprised that a Clark supporter basically starts a thread with knocks on Edwards as the intended theme? As soon as I saw this thread I knew Edwards would be picked last in the OP, and anyone who elevated Edwards as best would be chortled at. I like Clark but one of the reasons I'm glad he's (so far) not running is it somewhat diminishes the anti-Edwards fury among Clark supporters here and elsewhere.

I refuse to go there.

Clark has the campaign strategy of a mentally deranged person. His plan to win the primaries and/or the general election is the quit the primaries BEFORE the voting.

Maybe its the agent orange or gulf war syndrome, but his decision to not fight makes his judgement suspect.

You clarkies are just mad at yourself, you self-hating defeatists.

There's no need to tear someone down who's actually fighting for the White House. You guys are pathetic. You guys are hiding in your holes while Edwards is out there trying to win back the White House.

1. Sen. Clinton
2. Gov. Richardson
3. Sen. Edwards
4. Sen. Obama
5. Sen. Biden
6. Rep. Kucinich

I left out Sen. Dodd because I feel that I don't know enough about him to rank him properly.

I thought the aim of the Dem's., was to get a president elected. Have you seen the Senator on C-Span recently? She is the most electable of the group, unless Al can somehow get involved, She is smart, and it's about time we let the females have a shot at governing, since the men have screwed it up so badly. The added fun would be Roves head exploding on election night.

I think it is VERY hard to argue that she is the most electable. Rasmussen was the most accurate pollster in 2006, check this out:

http://rasmussenreports.com/Political%20Tracking/Favorables/Favorables.htm

hopefully that person will be Barack Obama.

Honestly, besides the fact that I can't stand her triangulating and I resent the hell out of her refusing to deal with health care until her second term - I really just do not want 8 more fucking years of Clinton sex jokes. Are we ever going to get back to some semblance of normalcy in this country??

She has nowhere to go but down. Why nominate a candidate with no room to grow? So that we can have yet another 50/50 dogfight. Nominate a Democrat who can win Independents and Moderate Republicans. Hillary wins over no one. She is a party-line vote candidate, and nothing more.

I really don't like her attitude and I don't think she can win.

If Gore comes in, which I doubt, I would put him between Obama and Edwards.

If Clark enters he would be a top for me too.

Reasons:

• Gore is in the best position to win the general and would have huge coattails. His election would help correct the stolen one, also.


• Edwards is sounding more and more like my new Senator, Jim Webb, who is fast becoming my favorite Senator. He has huge coattails and would make the Democratic Party *more* electable downticket in every area of the country. The North Carolina Democratic Congressional delegation also realizes this, as the entire delegation has endorsed Edwards.


• Clark also sounds a lot like Jim Webb, just like Edwards, on policies and explanations. He has huge coattails and would make the Democratic Party *more* electable downticket in every area of the country.


• Dodd is pretty good I suppose. I really don't know much about him but I like what I have heard. He would probably help more than hurt Democrats, downticket.


• Kucinich is great on the issues, but doesn't have the generalized, non-niche, leadership ability that he would need as President. Also, he ticked me off just now, which caused me to rank him below Dodd, by criticizing the dropping of the FOX News run debate.


• Obama doesn't address the issues directly, like he doesn't want people to understand the issues or his positions on them, plus he seems like the "intellectual"/Adlai Stevenson candidate and I think he will fare exactly as well as Adlai did. I also think he'll bring down all the races below him. I oppose him partially for the same 'unelectable' reasons that most people opposed Dean with in the last presidential primary.


• Richardson is a free traitor.


• Biden is a free traitor.


• Clinton is an opportunistic pandering free traitor. Many folks don't know that she was a board member of Wal-Mart before she was our First Lady. Of every company in America, Walmart made the largest gains during Clinton's term as President. She is a profiteer. She's also the single most divisive candidate on the list and would do an incredible job of rallying the Republican base to get out the vote which puts her in the same position as Obama, in that she is unelectable and would have a negative effect on the races, downticket. Also, I don't like legacies.

1) Barack Obama
2) John Edwards
3) Bill Richardson
4) Hillary Clinton

The rest, honestly, do not count.

Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Clinton--ranked by a combo of appeal to me plus ability to win.

by next fall. Gore is, hands down, the person with most experience for the job. Edwards anti-corporatism, health care proposals, and willingness to admit mistakes are all appealing. I admire his choice of poverty as an issue which this country does not want to face. Obama strikes me as being in a similar place to where Edwards was four years ago--not ready for the top spot--but I would support him over Hillary. I've never been a Hillary fan. Period.

It all changes if Gore does run. Temperment and political skill matter as much as policy.

Also, I believe domestic issues will be more of a challenge than foreign issues for the next President.

1. Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
2. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
3. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
4. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
5. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
Tie. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York & Senator Joe Biden of Delaware

can we democrats be with silliness polls as this....If you want to know by your own measure (integrity, proven good judgment, values, and leadership) then either Joe Biden or Chris Dodd would be at the top of the list. Remember these two old guys have been around the block and were members in good standing back in the 70's 80's early 90's when the Dems controlled the Senate.....Now they have an opportunity to help turn this country around...and just like a big naval carrier it takes a long time to turn it around, but at least they are turning to port.....

1a. Barack Obama
3. Chris Dodd
4. Bill Richardson
5. Dennis Kucinich
6. Hillary Clinton
7. Joe Biden

What I value in a candidate is respect for the citizens who should ultimately hold the power (everyone, equally) and not those who actually do (corporations, corporate-owned media).

1. Al Gore: Vision experience and a new found charisma. This man has been right on so many things that I have total faith in his ability to move this country in a better direction. If he runs, I'm totally on board.

If he does not run then it's a close choice between these two.

2. Bill Richardson: Executive experience, environmental and energy policies and the potential to energize western and Hispanic voters.

3. Barack Obama: Charisma, personality and the fact that he was right on the war from the get go.

From there we go down to my third tier.

4. Dennis Kucinich: Dennis is where I am on most issues. If by the time New Jersey votes, none of my higher ranked candidates is in the race, I will proudly vote for Dennis as I did in 2004.

5. John Edwards: I like his economic and health care policies but I have trouble getting past his Iraq war vote.

6. Chris Dodd: Nice guy but see Edwards for my feelings about the IWR.

7. Joe Biden: Ditto

8. Hillary Clinton: Ditto--did not even mention the war until a few months ago--too busy with flag burning and video game issues I guess.

plus electable), Dodd (progressive), big drop off, Hillary (DLC), Richardson (DLC), Biden (DLC)

If Gore or Clark got into the race, they would both come in well above the DLCers.



Am I the only one surprised that so many people have a progressive first choice followed by a DLC second choice or vice versa?

and I can't imagine that changing.

1. Dennis Kucinich
2. Barak Obama
3. John Edwards
4. Bill Richardson
5. Al Gore
6. Wesley Clark
7. Christopher Dodd
8. Hillary Clinton
9. Joe Biden

1. John Edwards
2. Barack Obama
3. Hillary Clinton
4. Bill Richardson
5. Dennis Kucinich
6. Chris Dodd
7. Mike Gravel

If Wesley Clark or Al Gore runs, insert them as the first and second choices please :)

I have Richardson second as well...


1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
2. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
3. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois
4. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
5. Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
6. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
7. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio

1. Senator Barack Obama
2. Congressman Dennis Kucinich
3. Senator John Edwards
4. Senator Chris Dodd
5. Governor Bill Richardson
6. Senator Joe Biden
7. Senator Hillary Clinton

before the Iowa caucus. Hmmm...Clark's not on the list, Vilsack is out. Kucinich is scrappy.

I'm going with Biden - he'll likely give up before the primaries, probably be forced out for saying something stupid.

I don't think anyone will choose to skip Iowa this time around.

CD
BO
JE
BR
HC
JB

Gravel #2

All the others excepting Hillary way back.

Hillary is way back behind the rest.

1. Kucinich
2. Clinton
3. Obama
4. Richardson
5. Edwards
6. Dodd
7. Biden

1 Kucinich
2 Edwards
3 Obama
4 Hillary
5 Richardson