Comments on Slog Tracking Poll: Results

Lot of sheep read Slog, so if, for example, Dan says he likes Al Gore, most of them are going to follow.

Gotta go with Obama. I still can't understand the fascination with Gore. People quickly forget that he was quite a shady character when he was Veep.

Main difference: fewer voters

Differences? Hmmm...well, I noticed this:

Biden scored 2% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 1%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

HRC scored 25% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, she scored 16%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered her results.

Dodd scored 1% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 0%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

Edwards scored 17% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 8%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

Gravel scored 2% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 1%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

Kucinich scored 8% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 5%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

Obama scored 43% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 28%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

Richardson scored 3% in the first pole. In the second, the one with Gore, the one with Gore for no real explainable reason, he scored 2%. Gore's existence in the pole, somehow, someway, bothered his results.

These are my findings. Make a record of them, please.

poles are like north and south and strippers.

Poll, Poll, Poll, Poll, Poll! Otherwise, brilliant Mr. Peaux.

It's not much of a difference but it seems Kucinich fever has relatively died. That would be my guess.

Y'all ought to let go of Gore. From the signs I've seen, he has no intention of running.

If Obama is the fav, hopefully the youth, which favors him more than the other candidates, will show up in large numbers on election day (unlike its normal voting behavior) since they give him the best (and possibly) only shot of winning.

Obama needs to step the fuck up and LEAD if he wants to be Our Leader. He and HRC have not shown an ounce of leadership on Iraq for the last six months.

Dodd, interestingly, is starting to show said leadership. Edwards is saying all the right things, but isn't in the Senate, so it's harder to evaluate - though I really like what he says.

Fascinating -- so this is how the 620 Slog readers think. And what does this tell us?

Looking back at the August poll again, it looks like there, sans Gore, there's more even distribution within the candidates.

With today's poll, there's slightly more even distribution with Gore, and Obama is now the clear lead by a greater percentage sans Gore.

Shrug. Yeah, and?

I have to ask. I really have to.

Everyone criticizes all or some of the candidates for lack of leadership, or charisma, or lack of real commitment to issues. For Obama and Hilary, many people believe that some to all of their campaigning strategy runs on their race and gender respectively.

My question is, who was the last presidential candidate in your lifetime you felt was just the bee's knees? I mean, it's not that we don't have the right to demand candidates be honest and have integrity; it's just that by reading history, I don't see the precedent. I'm rather young, and I'm seriously asking, who was the last good president, and (perhaps) more importantly, who was the last good president who, while campaigning, inspired everyone with the "Whole Package"? If the past 30(?) years has seen a shift from the majority of voters voting on real issues and good character, to voting for pretty faces and general promises of good will, what possible motive is there to demand the candidates use a losing strategy to gain the votes of the minority of reasoned voters while losing the majority?

You forgot to include Dan Savage for President!!! I want to see the polls on that!!!

I think unscientific polls aren't benign; they add disinformation into the public realm.

@ #12

The last 'good' candidate was John Kennedy.
Of course, my memory of him is colored by my youth at the time and by the decades that have passed.
None the less, he did inspire a great feeling throughout the country, hence his murder. Too much of a good thing is dangerous you know.

Re #12:
Uh, aren't you forgetting something? You neglected to insult the Stranger and/or one of the other commentors. You can't just ask an interesting, thought-provoking question and leave. Whose blog do you think this is?
And, sadly, the last great president probably was Kennedy. Although, since I wasn't around to see it-I was born during the Nixon administration--I'm just cynical enough to wonder how much of that is true.

Kennedy? You mean the guy who said this?

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Sounds like an internationlist, capitalist, Cold-warrior to me.

difference: the field is starting to narrow. it is becomming clear who the candidate of choice is. the smallers are disappearing, and obama is emerging.

#12: Reagan, 1980.

Most people in the 80s had a very different idea of what the bee's knees were, although that really hasn't changed. Celebrities will always be the bee's knees to Americans. Or will they re: Thompson?

Also, I was in my single digits when Reagen became president. However, I thought he was cooler than Carter then, thanks to my very Republican family.

#12:

The last bee's knees candidate who won was FDR, and it wasn't really clear how good a president he was going to be until after he was elected.

The last candidate with a good chance of winning who was a total package was probably Bobby Kennedy, and he was killed a year and a half before I was born.

Since 1968, the Democratic Party has been a mess and the conservative movement has been ascendant, so it's not surprising that there's been a scarcity of good presidential candidates. The hard part is matching personality, policy, and ability to win in a political system thoroughly controlled in both parties by interests that oppose good policy. It takes a mighty charismatic personality to overcome that conflict.

I wonder if Paul Wellstone had lived and run in 2004 in Howard Dean's place if he might have won and become that candidate. He had passion more than charisma, but in his case it was probably enough. He was right on policy, and 2004 was a year where a well-organized grassroots campaign that avoided some of Dean's mistakes might have been able to pull it off. Certainly, the limited success that Dean had relied heavily upon running on Wellstone's legacy, but without Wellstone's personality. But we'll never know.

nor for Gore nor the son of a drug lord

Only major difference I see is that Richardson's vote got cut in half, which makes sense in light of his horrible, horrible gaffes that I think may actually prevent him from getting a cabinet seat. He should run against Domenici. Back home, he's about ten times as popular and he could have that seat without leaving Burger King.

Who's this Senator Clinton? Is that the guy who's coming to town for a fundraiser?

I never see any women named Clinton here ...

@12 - My answers to your question - the only candidates I can think off right offhand that I regarded as truly the bees' knees - and one of them is before my time - are Adlai Stevenson, Robert Kennedy, and Tom Harkin.

too bad edwards lacks the...something in the charisma department, i guess. he really is a good guy, imo. the best platform. his looks are so boring, i'm sorry to say.

Cascadian, I was thrilled to see you mention Paul Wellstone. I wasn't friends w/ the Senator, but being active in MN politics I had met him, and one of my friends was on the plane that went down (Mary McEvoy).

It's hard to say how things would have gone for Paul in 2004. He, like Dean, could get pretty fired up in the heat of a oratory.

I'm hoping that Al Franken will be able to assume Paul's mantle next fall, though the polling numbers so far aren't promising...