SUSA poll s - Kerry, Kennedy stable - Romney takes a fall

I guess that Romney is on his way out. (and Kerry is not that bad positionned, after all).

I imagine that the free fall for Romney is due to him making speeches in the South while his state was under water.

Kennedy

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=66aba31a-28d3-4d1d-8eab-fee2acc5d33d



Kerry

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=167be8b3-bb54-4fb9-bd74-401e630f31d8



Romney

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollTrack.aspx?g=454ada23-20dc-41f0-9c0c-a8a2a45d653c

Not being from Massachusetts, I've been surprised at the almost constant 8 percentage points difference between Kerry and Kennedy. I know that Kennedy is adored in the state and that for most of Kerry's Senate career he did less specifically for Massachusetts than Kennedy (which would be a high bar to meet).

But, the question was not who do you like best, but that there are 8 percent Mass voters who approve of Kennedy, but not Kerry. At least one of whom we see regularly on DU. If this is the IWR vote, could it change with Kerry essentially having the best articulated plan for getting out soon?

Also, of the people who disapprove, what % would vote for him versus even a good Republican candidate - but are mad at him for IWR or not being for gay marriage?

The bad stuff from last year played badly with Catholic voters. There were churches, even here in MA, that said to vote for Kerry is a sin. It will take a while to get over that.

We heard the smears too! Add that in with years of Kerry-bashing by the Globe and Herald, stir diligently and you have a situation that will take a while to fade. But it will.

I don't know his position on gay marriage, but I can't imagine it's to the right of Kerry's.

It's sad to hear this - but at least he's over 50%

(Kennedy is pro choice and pro gay marriage, but is keeping very quiet on that, why Kerry had to talk about it and was attacked on it last year very strongly.

In addition, there is a perception that Kennedy gets a lot more for the state (privilege of senior senators) and people are sure he is not running for a higher office).

Altogether, I am not unhappy with Kerry's numbers. In MA, people here are not the type to pat themselves in the back and say great. They tend to complain a lot.

I am still shocked by the level Lautenberg and Corzine have, and am wondering why your governor is doing so well and not running for reelection.

Corzine is being hurt because the Republicans are running on the Democrats being corrupt. Although there was nothing illegal, Corzine gave a former girlfriend who heads one of the big public service unions a huge (about $400,000) gift when he forgave a loan one of his companies gave her to pay off a house she couldn't afford after they broke up.

McGreevey really resigned because he was heavilly involved in a couple pay to play scandals and because he tried to appoint his unqualified lover as the head of NJ's equivilent of homeland security. His emotional speech that he was resigning because he was gay was an attempt to re-write history.

NJ doesn't have a lt gov, so Cody who was the head of the Senate became Governor. He is a really good guy who never expected to be governor. Almost as soon as he became governor, some Republicans started a whisper campaign about his wife, who had suffered from post partum depression. To deal with this private issue, his wife, who looks exactly like what she was, a kindergarten teacher - and a very pretty one, made an excellent ad on post partum - how to recognize it and how to get help. Cody, himself, is seen as a rarity in NJ - an honest politicain.

When Corzine put out feelers that he wanted to run, he got all the support. Cody is not independly wealthy, so he opted not to run. I am phoning in one of the most Republican counties - the number of people who spontaneously lament they can't vote for Cody is amazing. Corzine seens like he will eek out a victory, but Cody (per a Times article) could likely win in a landslide.

Lautenberg may suffer from the perception that it was somewhat unfair (though we loved it) when Torichelli pulled out and was replaced by Lautenberg. (The current Republican candidate for Governor is the loser in that race - which brings it back into view. I think maybe Corzine should have backed out in Cody favor just to see if Forrester's head would explode.) But it may just be NJ disgust with Democratic corruption as exemplified by Torrichelli and McGreevey. The only saving grace is that 2 Republican candidates in the last 6 or so years had to back out for corruption too.

We have our share of shady characters around here as well. (Big Dig anyone.) I hope Corzine eeks it out and I feel bad for Cody. Any chance he can run for the Senate again?

Gosh, and we get scandals and tsk, tsks when a Senator sleeps on a friends couch. I'm going to go slink into a corner and contemplate thanking the gods for having pretty good statewide elected reps.

(Hey, my Moms Congresscritter had to resign and serve time for corruption. That was a few years ago. He was replaced by a goo-goo and things have been quiet ever since.)

Geez, so for McGreevey, admitting he was gay was not the problem. Admitting that he put his lover on a board for which he was not qualified, now that was a problem. Wow!

so he'll remain that unless Corzine wins and appoints him to the US Senate.

I thought we had a good shot at most corrupt, but Senators sleeping on friends' couches, instead of accepting enough graft to live comfortably - the Globe might have had it right there is a real appearance of impropriety there.

Part 2: He had the use of a car from a friend. (The horror!) He mailed in the payment later. (Again, horror doesn't describe it.)
Part 3: He used his own money in the '96 race. I know this means you have to sit down and think about the awful consequence of someone using their own money to fund a political race, but it happened right here in the Cradle of Liberty. Yup. The horror.

That's about it. That is the full gamut of things that Sen. Kerry has been accused of doing wrong. Sleeping at a friends house and not paying rent, using a car that was later paid for and using his own money in '96. If you are sitting there scratching your head going , :wtf: the you and I are alike. Cuz I could never figure out what that was all about either. (I thought you got in trouble for actually being greased by someone, not for nothings like this. We have and have had MA pols who are really dirty birds and this is boy scout stuff. I could never figure it out. Kerry was never, ever, accused of being greased. Ever. This is the worst stuff that was ever thrown at him. It just boggles the mind how idiotic and light this stuff is.)

Upshot: He's clean. Very, very clean. If there was anything, anything that was not clean about him, it would have come out already. (And it's not his style. Never has been. It's just not him.)

on a friend's couch, but I dont think that using their own money is so unknown to them. Where was the Globe's outrage?

I guess that Kerry is just not one of them and they dont understand him.

There are in fact two political parties in MA. And they are both the Democratic Party. There is one where real corruption can occur and one where squeaky clean people fight over who is the more principled Dem. Sigh! It is odd.

Sept 05
People thought he had a heart. They gave him a chance. Wow, this guy cares about others. Look he shook a poor person's hand and didn't reach for the disinfectant right away. Maybe we misjudged him.

Oct 05
Nope, still a heartless creepy bastard after all. That and the fact that he hates us, he really hates us, means that we hates him right back.

This restore my faith in humanity. The state has not had a silent lobotomy after all.

And Kerry's numbers will get better. They undersampled with minorities. (And hey, he's in way, way better shape than Dukakis was after he lost the Presidency. People around here turned on that poor man and tore him to bits. Kerry is sitting pretty in the cat-bird seat compared to that mauling. Dukakis out-polled murderers, child =molesters and Herald columnists, but just barely. It was bad.)

For some reason, the VFW is still pissed at Kerry for his anti-war protest days. Not all of the members, but the organization as a whole. So a certain percentage of MA vets dislike Kerry, and will never support him in any election. My boss and her husband are very active in the VFW, and last year they weren't pro-Bush, just anti-Kerry. Very frustrating, especially in light of everything Kerry does to benefit veterans.