Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Whenever I'm curious about what the far left is thinking on an issue, I check out the DailyKos. So, with a new Supreme Court nominee, I went over there.

But, I found something far more interesting. In a DKos 7/19 straw poll, General Wesley Clark is way ahead of all other Democratic candidates for President in 2008. (a 6/20 straw poll is in paranthesis)

Daily Kos community poll. 7/19. 8,027 respondents. (6/20 results)

Clark 34% (26%)
No Freakin' Clue 13 (17)
Clinton 10 (10)
Feingold 10 (10)
Edwards 7 (8)
Warner 5 (5)
Richardson 4 (4)
Other 4 (7)
Biden 3 (3)
Kerry 2 (2)
Bayh 2 (2)
Vilsack 0 (0)

Based on scanning some comments there, Clark has a very strong internet campaign already going. That's the type of organization which helped Dean get out to his lead in 2003.

Can anybody shead some light on whether Clark is quietly getting off to a good start with the Democratic base?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

I have no insight on his organization at this point, but this poll doesn't surprise me. After 8 years of a Republican President, I think most Democrats are in the mood to win, and they would be willing to sacrifice some ideological purity in the process.

I am sure most Democrats would prefer Hillary over Clark; however, they would much rather swallow their pride and win with Clark than risk losing with Hillary.

I am probably in a minority, but Clark does not impress me as much as he does others. I found him to be a bit of a lightweight during his run in 2004.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

I am a democrat living in a blue state (NY) and most of the people I know are democrats.

I do not know 1 solitary person who is a Hillary Clinton supporter for president.

Barring the "sample size" remarks, I think that the supposed, phantom Hillary Clinton support among Democrats is something cooked up by the Right Wing. Nothing gets a Conservative to foam at the mouth more than mentioning a Clinton. Its like the political duplication of pavlov's dog.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Perhaps I'm going blind/confused, but I just went to DailyKos...and the poll has something like 1200 responses, not 8000; and (if it hasn't been said already), the poll was obviously non-scientific. The results seem rather random to me, regardless; I certainly don't sense any perceptible buzz around Clark, and I'm rather familar with Democratic Party activists (at least in the souteast Michigan area). Nor have I heard/read anything about him even having a campaign team in place. As far as I know, he's not raising money and has no paid staff.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

with madonna on his side, how could he lose? I thought sex sells!

Seriously, though, he is a very likely candidate. Especially likely amongst this group of potentials.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

If you remember the Draft Clark movement back in 02-03 was the reason Clark got into the race initially. I suspect that very organized online group is still active and does a decent job of getting the word out about any of these online polls. It's almost guaranteed that a phone survey of Democrats would turn out much different.

I'm telling you straight up, it's Mark Warner in '08 baby! Hop on the bandwagon now before people start looking down at you for it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Whenever I'm curious about what the far left is thinking on an issue, I check out the DailyKos.

[/ QUOTE ]

"far left"? DailyKos???

LMFAO [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


q/q

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

I'm a democrat and I would sooner die than have hillary clinton run for president (bill is another story).

I dno't really thingk Wesley Clark is that great either.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you remember the Draft Clark movement back in 02-03 was the reason Clark got into the race initially.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, not really.

Liberal alert – what follows is sure to be called the “vast right wing conspiracy” or Extreme.

Clark entered the race for one reason – to derail Dean. The one thing the Clintons and DNC chair McCaullef did not want was a sitting president in ’08 so they ran Clark to destroy Dean.

Yeah,I know I’m a republican stooge, hate monger, blah blah blah. – whatever.
[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

i don't even really understand.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you remember the Draft Clark movement back in 02-03 was the reason Clark got into the race initially.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, not really.

Liberal alert – what follows is sure to be called the “vast right wing conspiracy” or Extreme.

Clark entered the race for one reason – to derail Dean. The one thing the Clintons and DNC chair McCaullef did not want was a sitting president in ’08 so they ran Clark to destroy Dean.

Yeah,I know I’m a republican stooge, hate monger, blah blah blah. – whatever.
[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]I will concede it was likely the Clinton's ran Clark to kill Dean's momentum, but only because Dean had no chance of winning the general election.

To the OP, Clark has always had good online support, but if you look at polls of Democrats, he runs from 2 to 5% nationwide although name recognition probably plays a significant role in those.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Why is he unpopular with the dems? I don't really remember specifics, but I think I had a good impression of Clark during the last election (I'm pretty right-leaning). My one-off answer is, leftist, but still good on national security, seems like a winner. What's the deal? Does he have genital warts or something?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why is he unpopular with the dems? I don't really remember specifics, but I think I had a good impression of Clark during the last election (I'm pretty right-leaning). My one-off answer is, leftist, but still good on national security, seems like a winner. What's the deal? Does he have genital warts or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is what makes actual leftists scratch their heads; and this is nothing against you BonJoviJones. But when people on the left hear things like "Clark is a leftist" or "Hilary Clinton and the far left", they should realize the deck is stacked against them and they never had a chance.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

We don't dislike him. He has about a 60-15 favorability rating among Dems and that 15% probably just don't like that he voted for Reagan and the responsible Bush. It's just a name recognition problem nationwide. Hillary could conceivably have $50 million in the bank by early '07, and there is a tendency to back the winning horse. Most of us liberals who closely follow politics really love Clark. I'm really putting my money on him being Hillary's VP.

There are many Democrats I would be happy with in 08, Warner, Clinton, etc. But only two could beat McCain (who really does have a chance at winning the Rep nomination) and they are Wesley Clark and John Edwards.

A friend of mine tapes FoxNews whenever Wes Clark on (he's a contributor for them now) and I gotta say, this man has potential out the roof. He could unite America like no one else. His failure to win the nomination in 04 was only due to his unbelievably late start and a general lack of preparedness.

Being from Virginia yourself, would you cross party lines for Warner?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Can anybody shead some light on whether Clark is quietly getting off to a good start with the Democratic base?

[/ QUOTE ]Clark is for all political intents and purposes a Clinton and two Clintons are not going to really compete with each other and split their demographic within the Democratic Party. Like I said earlier, look for Clark to play very nice to Hillary if he runs for the nomination to the point of outright defending her against others, not really try too hard himself, and then accept the VP role from Hillary.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal. And you can't beat his backround story.

Dems should ahve picked him in '04. He was the only candidate of the nince of them I liked at all.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal. And you can't beat his backround story.

Dems should ahve picked him in '04. He was the only candidate of the nince of them I liked at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

I voted for him in the primary. I think he's done though (he probably doesn't think so).

-ptmusic

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Edwards reputation during the 2004 campaign was that he was bad on the stump and wasn't much more than a good looking guy with a nice hairdo (IOW, he had no cache). Take it or leave it, but certainly after the primaries, 'great campaigner' and 'John Edwards' were not frequently heard together in the same sentence.

IMO, he's so photogenic that people don't take him as seriously as they might otherwise; and it unnecessarily contributes to the criticism that he's "too young" to be President, despite the fact President Bush was only two years older than Edwards when he became President.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Wesley Clark has a much better chance of being elected president than does Hillary Clinton.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

I don't know. Like I said he was the only Democrat I could really stand when he opened his mouth. Even if I disagreed with him I got the feeling he cared alot and was trying to do his best.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Wesley Clark has a much better chance of being elected president than does Hillary Clinton.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm pretty sure I said the same thing, but Hillary is the heavy favorite to win the nomination.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal.

[/ QUOTE ]Edwards reputation during the 2004 campaign was that he was bad on the stump and wasn't much more than a good looking guy with a nice hairdo (IOW, he had no cache)

[/ QUOTE ]This is pretty much the opposite of the truth. lehighguy is right, we should have nominated him.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wesley Clark has a much better chance of being elected president than does Hillary Clinton.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm pretty sure I said the same thing, but Hillary is the heavy favorite to win the nomination.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting you were saying that.
I was just adding my comment to the thread.

The Democrats should get behind someone with an actual chance.

I firmly believe there will be a female president within my lifetime, but it will not be her. A former president's wife will never be viewed the same way as a woman who made her own name.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

I agree with your post except for the end. I think Hil has a 50% chance of getting the nomination, and about a 50% chance of winning the general election as well.

Also, the overwhelming majority of women in high places of power during the past couple centuries got there by being associated with a powerful man. From Ghandi to Dole to Hillary, to many others that I read about in some sociology or political science textbook that I forgot about.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also, the overwhelming majority of women in high places of power during the past couple centuries got there by being associated with a powerful man. From Ghandi to Dole to Hillary, to many others that I read about in some sociology or political science textbook that I forgot about.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is true, but you're in murky waters when dealing with this issue in the U.S. Presidential Election. I just have a feeling the voting public of this country will never be able to accept Hillary in the role of president. Still, that's obviously just speculation on my part.

I would guess she has about a 35% chance of winning the nomination and a 5% chance of winning the general election.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

So you'd give me 10-1 odds that Hill is our next Prez? =D

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
So you'd give me 10-1 odds that Hill is our next Prez? =D

[/ QUOTE ]

Assuming the amount was reasonable for a far from wealthy man, yes. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

10 from me, 100 from you?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
10 from me, 100 from you?

[/ QUOTE ]

Try to remember this (I probably wont) once it gets a bit closer to the election.
Let's at least wait until 2006!
I would give you the same odds.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

If I bookmark the page will the url always take me here?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
If I bookmark the page will the url always take me here?

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably not, because it will undoubtedly be moved to the archive server by that time. One of us will just have to try to remember. Maybe we'll even both still be on 2+2 when the time comes. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

To harsh. Politics is completely random. People vote on the most random bullshit. I give any candidate a 40% chance to win if they are the nominee.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I give any candidate a 40% chance to win if they are the nominee.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too, unless it's Hillary Clinton. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
There are many Democrats I would be happy with in 08, Warner, Clinton, etc. But only two could beat McCain (who really does have a chance at winning the Rep nomination) and they are Wesley Clark and John Edwards.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the mainstream Republicans are onto McCain in that he's a RINO - I doubt they'll fall for that again.

Warner would be a disaster - He has been here in Virginia.

As a Democrat - How do you think Dean's being the party chair will affect Clinton & or Clark considering what they did to him in 2004 ?

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Edwards reputation during the 2004 campaign was that he was bad on the stump and wasn't much more than a good looking guy with a nice hairdo (IOW, he had no cache)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much the opposite of the truth. lehighguy is right, we should have nominated him.

[/ QUOTE ]



Edwards's has won two elections in his life: his first victory came in his 1998 Senate race against an unpopular, 70-year-old first-term senator. Then he lost every presidential primary save South Carolina and was an ineffective campaigner for Kerry down the stretch. His supposed strength was that he could connect with Southerners, but forget carrying any southern states, or his home state: Edwards couldn't even carry his home precinct.

Like I said earlier, I like him alot and I don't think he's treated as seriously as he should be. But if he were even a medicore campaigner, let alone a tremendous campaigner (as some here have claimed) - he'd be President right now; he easily could have been a media darling. Consider all the characteristics about him we've mentioned - he's got a fantastic biography, a cute family, is highly telegenic/photogenic, had a "Two Americas" populist message that could even put a smile on Bill O'Reilly's face: put this all together and he should have ran away with the general election, let alone the primaries.

Why didn't he? He's got a reputation, and it's not a good one: many seem him as a stuffed shirt, a pretty face, a nice hairdo, and not much else. Is it a fair reputation? I don't think so. But it's certainly dogged him. But he certainly hasn't helped himself with lackluster campaigning/stump speeches.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

The big spear through Edwards was that he made his millions as an ambulance chasing personal injury lawyer.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The big spear through Edwards was that he made his millions as an ambulance chasing personal injury lawyer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't the right always accuse the left of being enamored with trial lawyers? If so, that should have made Edwards even more popular among the Democratic base; but even in the primaries, his inability to connect with voters was evident, despite all the positive qualities he has - and I think a lot of this can be attributed to his reputation; a reputation that has developed, in part, to his substandard abilities as a campaigner.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Kerry and Edwards did very well in Iowa. Kerry defeated him narrowly. The entire primary process was over at that point. At least that's how it looked to me. The person who won Iowa just plain won. Clearly, winning that state didn't make you the best (look at Kerry) but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

The whole idea of elected primaries is a relatively new political concept and largely a failure in my mind. They should go back to party selection. It tended to produce more moderate and intelligent candidates.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

Dean will become the Karl Rove of the democratic party. A mudslinger and dirty political games guy. He's not as good as Rove though.

Re: Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?
 

My take on Clark is that his run in 04 was just to get his name out there. When Hilary wins the primary she will pick clark as VP to try to "toughen up" the ticket, this could only be done after Clark's 04 run because no one knew who he was before that. This is just my own personal theory but I think it makes sense.