Who besides Dean does Gore's endorsement most help?

[WillyBrandt]

Poll question: Who besides Dean does Gore's endorsement most help?

Gore's endorsement--all things being equal--is a huge boon for Dean. Which of the other candidates does it help, and why? (Note: You can select that it helps no one besides Dean.)

[BlueEyedSon]

1. 7 for Clark, why?

[WillyBrandt]

3. The thinking is that Clark has most trouble in a divided field

And does best if there's a head to head matchup, where his virtues shine, instead of having his abilities obscured by having so many competitors.

Moreover, while Dean has the largest number of people with him as their first choice, Clark has a larger number who have him as their second choice.

If Gore's endorsement encourages candidates to drop out, their support will more likely go to Clark than Dean.

That's the theory, anyway.

[dfong63]

10. if Clark's virtues don't shine in the field,

then why do you think they'll shine any brighter in a head-to-head competition?

in a head-to-head competition, Clark's lack of any political track record, as well as lack of seasoned political judgment, could become a glaring handicap.

[Renew Deal]

5. It could clear the field.

It puts Clark in place for a head to head matchup. He does well there.

[alexm]

8. He is now Clinton's candidate w/out having to endorse!!!

In all honesty, Al Gore is irrelevent and he needed something to bring him back into the public eye. Plus, you have to keep in mind that Al Gore, over everything else wants to be President. He knows full well that all people in the world with tons of time to spend on the internet do not equal enough votes to overcome Gov. Dean's record as Governor of Vermont and zero foreign policy experience in a match up against a wartime incumbent President. His agenda is a simple one : Defeat Hillary Clinton in 2008 and be the party's nominee against the GOP challenger. He can't get there if he endorses Gen. Clark as most believe Clark can and will beat Pres. Bush if he recieves the nomination. To that end, he's trying to lessen the influence of the Clinton supporters who will put forth Hillary (With Clark as her VP I believe) over him in 2008. To do that, he's got to be in Howard Dean's camp which isn't so much about Howard Dean as it is the organization. Howard Dean is proof positive they could run a viable campaign with a candidate devoid of any real substance and that is exactly what Gore will need to win the party's nomination against a Clinton controlled Democratic Party. This is endorsement is about Al Gore, not Howard Dean just like Howard Dean's campaign isn't about Howard Dean, it's about the campaign! Deaniacs aren't nuts about Dean, they are nuts about "getting back what was taken from them" or "taking back the power" or any other liberal Tony Robbin's slogan you can come up with. Once all that is consumed by the voting public, he will be tossed aside and people will cast their vote with fear not anger. They will be scared of the possibility of facing a war on terror, Iraq, Iran or North Korea with a Governor from Vermont at the helm spouting nothing but rhetoric and will never be angered enough to overcome it. Thusly, President Bush wins re-election and 2008 falls into place for Al Gore (With Dean as his VP I believe).

As I said Howard Dean's campaign is more about the campaign than it really is him. That organization could've made Kucinich the front runner as it has Gov. Dean. It's not that I underestimate the organization I just know it simply does not have as much in numbers as it does passionate loyalty. Who cares how many people show up at rallys. They are the same people as the last one. What I'm saying is that his organization has a large number of people who turn out to things or email or vote in on-line polls. Don't confuse that with "he has large numbers". If he had those large numbers, why can't he put distance between him and a guy who just entered the race two months ago? I'll tell you why : He's got no message beyond "I'm pissed off and I'm gonna change the world". Voters are intrigued by it, but don't see how on earth he's going to get there.

I'd look for Hillary to endorse Gen. Clark (Along with a lot of other heavyweights like Sen. Graham and I think Sen. Lieberman as well) right before New Hampshire and that will be the well deserved end to his campaign and a lesson to all of us. Anger is a useless emotion unless you can accomplish change not for the sake of change but change to prevent the cause for that anger in the first place.

FDR could rise from the grave and endorse Dean tomorrow. It will not change the fact he is facing a wartime incumbent President with 200 million in the bank and has no foreign policy experience at a time when the economy will be humming along (About to collapse but that won't be an issue). The election will be about fear and Dean's anger and rhetoric will just fuel it and those middle of the road voters to vote based on fear. It is those middle of the road voters that we need to defeat Pres. Bush and Gov. dean simply cannot deliver them. Gen. Clark can and will.

[bitchkitty]

16. Al Gore is irrelevant?

That's one of the silliest statements I've heard this week. He's not irrelevant to me, and not to anyone I know.

The spin on this endorsement thing is making me dizzy.

[AWD]

18. Ummmmm.......yeah. Right.

"We don't need an actual endorsement. We can just SAY Clark has it and maybe nobody will notice."

Yet another newbie spouting Karl Rove's lines for him.

[dobak]

2. It will hurt Lieberman and Kerry

Most of the votes from those 2 will go to Clark

[David Zephyr]

4. Clark.

n/t

[Bucky]

6. I support Clark, but I think Gore has hurt Clark

Because Clark is the most likely and most logical alternative to Dean, any bandwagon effect is going to work against the Clark building any momentum to over take Dean for popularity.

I think it also may have the effect of shortening the time frame in which a Dean alternative can emerge. With Clark still not having peaked yet, he again is tactically hindered by the Gore endorsement of Dean.

Any soft support that might have gone to Clark may now move toward Dean. Kerry & Gephardt won't be hurt by the flight of the undedideds because they've already lost their "soft support" and are down to their hard cores.

The net result of this may be to push Clark further down to 3rd or 4th or even 5th in New Hampshire. That makes South Carolina a make-or-break win for Clark. In fact, back to back wins in NH and Iowa will make whoever wins in South Carolina the defacto Dean alternative. Right now it is Edwards who is ahead there. So, as I've said elsewhere, Gore may have helped Edwards almost as much as he's helped Dean.

It should go without saying that if Dean somehow wins in South Carolina, then there is no anti-Dean; the race will effectively be over. And it will be then, and only then, that the country will start to get to know Howard Dean. If it turns out they don't like what they see, too friggin' bad.

The rush to end the primary selection process is a bad thing, not because it hurts my guy, but because it short cuts past the mess that a real democracy requires.

[opstachuck]

7. Clark, if only because everyone else thinks so.

i'm not sure what to think anymore about the primaries, except that Clark and Dean should just get it over with and just have sex with each other. wouldn't that make us all feel better?

[dfong63]

9. Gore's endorsement is one more piece of evidence

that the "Dean is unelectable" myth is a damnable lie.

Gore - the rightful elected president of the US - says Dean's the strongest candidate. the SEIU, IUPAT, and AFSCME endorsements. Paul Simon. Jesse Jackson Jr. Sheila Jackson Lee. thousands of small-check donors.

the "Dean is unelectable" crap is just wishful thinking from people who have absolutely no claim to being any more electable themselves. Dean is beating Gephardt on his home turf of IA, where he's practically a favorite son. Dean is beating Kerry in MA. Dean is kicking ass in NH. Dean is competitive in SC, leading in VA, and this is the south where the Dean bashers have been saying Dean would be crushed.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. Endorsements, polls, donations -- all very nice -- but VOTES are

what really count. So far, Dean hasn't received ONE vote. Nor has any other candidate.

Dean may well win the nomination but the general election is another matter.

He may do fairly well in Democratic primaries in the South, though I doubt he will (Virginia has large urban areas where he will probably do well, just as he'll probably do well with Dems in Atlanta.) But in the general election, Republicans vote, too. I don't think he can win against Bush. (Not a "damnable lie" but my true opinion.)

I believe Bush can be beaten, and hope that the primaries will lead to the nomination of someone who can beat Bush.

[KaraokeKarlton]

11. You left out Lieberman, who has actually been helped by it too

Just because it is seen as a "dis" against Lieberman, it also has resulted in every reporter wanting to talke to Lieberman and get his reaction. All that press gives him an opportunity to be heard. Since no one has really been paying any attention to him, this is going to end up helping him at least get heard, which is more than what a lot of the other candidates are getting.

[Yupster]

17. Agree Karlton

I looked for Lieberman on the list. It will create a little bit of news surge for him in the next week or so. I don't think it will mean anything in the end, but at this point, anything that gets his name in headlines has got to be a help, especially if it's a sympathetic story.

[Manix]

12. Clark now the anti-Dean

nt

[burning bush]

13. Clark, here's why

There is a fence between diehard Clinton supporters, and diehard Gore supporters. IMO, the Gore side tends to feel that Clinton's sexcapades let Gore down in 2000 and the Clinton side tends to feel that Gore blew off the Clinton legacy in 2000. These are not hard and fast rules, just my impressions.

Anyway, the Gore side of the fence will also tend to fall behind Dean (for obvious reasons) and the Clinton side, understanding Clinton's opinion of Clark, will tend to fall behind Clark.

All the other candidates will either be unaffected, or adversely affected.

My 2 cents.

[Kahuna]

15. I'd say Clark. Because that makes Clark not only the...

anti-Dean, but also the anti-Gore. I love Al Gore. But his name is synonymous with "loser."

[MarkTwain]

19. Simple : ABD !

.... Many of the others will be out by January. Clark will rise as the natural, obvious, and best solution to the Anybody But Dean movement which will grow and be supported by the vast majority of moderate Democrats - especially in the swing states which are critical to the removal of The Cabal.

It's beyond hope to attempt to believe that the ardent, zelous, and much of the time strident (not unlike their candidate) Dean supporters will ever accept this... but the rest of the political world has: Dean will not prevail over Bush.

As a result of "Mr." Gore's endorsement, the adults in the Democratic party will step in and deal with this issue, bring overwhelming assets and support, and move the party to the natural answer to this problem of the Democrat's rushing head long over the cliff of a Bush return to the White House - which will be....

"General" Clark.