Poll shows Clark moving quickly to top tier of Democratic presidential candidates

SFGATE.com ^ | 9/20/03 | AP - Washington

[NormsRevenge]

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark already appears to be very competitive in a new national poll released Saturday just days after he became the 10th Democratic presidential candidate.

Clark was among the leaders of the Democratic candidates in the Newsweek Poll and was not far behind President Bush in a head-to-head matchup in the poll taken only days after entering the race.

[NormsRevenge]

Wesley "Clinton" Clark

[Phyto Chems]

It's very easy when your dealing with 9 gutter dewellers, to get to the top..... LOL

[Jeff Head]

IMHO, Clark is going to clear the field so as to make room for Hillary accepting a request at the demoratic convention to accept a nomination...either as Clark's VP, or as the Presidential candidate herself.

We shall see.

[AntiGuv]

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. Sept. 18-19, 2003. N=377 registered Democrats and independents who lean Democratic nationwide. MoE ± 6.
					.
"Now I'm going to name 10 Democrats in the race for president. After I read you their names, tell me which ONE you would most like to see nominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in 2004. Here are the choice . . . ." Names rotated
		9/03	7/03	1/03
		%	%	%
	Wesley Clark	14	n/a	n/a
	Howard Dean	12	12	4
	Joe Lieberman	12	13	22
	John Kerry	10	10	13
	Dick Gephardt	8	14	13
	Al Sharpton	7	6	6
	John Edwards	6	6	14
	Bob Graham	4	7	5
	Carol Moseley Braun	2	3	n/a
	Dennis Kucinich	2	2	n/a
	Other (vol.)	1	1	1
	None (vol.)	3	3	4
	Don't know	19	23	13
	Gary Hart	n/a	n/a	5
					.
"Al Gore and Hillary Clinton have both said they will NOT run for president in 2004. If they were both in the race NOW, would either Al Gore or Hillary Clinton be your FIRST CHOICE for the Democratic presidential nomination, or would you prefer another candidate?" If "Yes," probe:  "Which one: Al Gore or Hillary Clinton?"
					.
	Nomination preferences, factoring in Gore and Clinton support:
		%
	Hillary Clinton	33
	Al Gore	28
	Wesley Clark	7
	Howard Dean	7
	Joe Lieberman	5
	John Kerry	5
	John Edwards	2
	Bob Graham	2
	Dick Gephardt	1
	Al Sharpton	1
	Dennis Kucinich	1
	Carol Moseley Braun	-
	None (vol.)	1
	Don't know	7

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. Sept. 18-19, 2003. N=855 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 4 (total sample).
						.
"Suppose the next general election for president were being held TODAY and you had to choose between George W. Bush, the Republican, and [see below], the Democrat -- who would you vote for?" If "Other" or "Undecided": "As of TODAY, do you LEAN more toward Bush, the Republican, or [see below], the Democrat?"
						.
		George W. Bush	Wesley Clark	Other (vol.)/ Undecided
		%	%	%
	ALL	47	43	10
	Men	52	41	7
	Women	42	45	13
	Republicans	82	11	7
	Democrats	17	76	7
	Independents	42	44	14
	South	45	47	8
	Non-South	47	41	12
						.
		George W. Bush	Howard Dean	Other (vol.)/ Undecided
		%	%	%
	9/18-19/03	52	38	10
	9/11-12/03	53	37	10
	7/03	53	38	9
						.
		George W. Bush	John Kerry	Other (vol.)/ Undecided
		%	%	%
	9/18-19/03	48	43	9
	7/03	50	42	8
						.
		George W. Bush	Al Gore	Other (vol.)/ Undecided
		%	%	%
	9/18-19/03	48	45	7
	11/02	54	39	7
	10/02	58	36	6
	9/02	58	36	6
						.
		George W. Bush	Hillary Clinton	Other (vol.)/ Undecided
		%	%	%
	9/18-19/03	50	43	7
	9/11-12/03	51	41	8
	11/02	55	40	5
	10/02	58	38	4
						.
"In general, would you like to see George W. Bush reelected to another term as president, or not?"
		Yes	No	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	9/18-19/03	44	50	6
	8/21-22/03	44	49	7
	7/24-25/03	49	43	8
	7/10-11/03	47	46	7
	5/1-2/03	51	38	11
	4/10-11/03	52	38	10
	11/02	49	42	9

[concerned about politics]

Clark was among the leaders of the Democratic candidates in the Newsweek Poll and was not far behind President Bush in a head-to-head matchup in the poll taken only days after entering the race.

News Week actually said Bush was ahead? Isn't that News Week blasphamy? Democrats are always ahead in their polls! Man, that must have really hurt.

[chicagolady]

lol!!

[Radix]

It's very easy when your dealing with 9 gutter dwellers, to get to the top.....

The truth is often so brutal. Well said.

[Dan from Michigan]

Clark IMO is Klintler II. He's even worse than John Sandinista traitorous assclown Kerry.

[concerned about politics]

Hey Dean : Put some ice on it.

[Clintonfatigued]

Clearly, Wesley Clark is by far the toughest candidate the 'Rats could come up with. His status as a four-star general gives him credibility on national security that the others could never have. Furthermore, I don't think he'd be fool enough to pick Hitlery Clinton as his running mate--she is too divisive. I expect he'll choose someone like who appears moderate, like Bob Graham or Evan Bayh. In addition, the 50-50 nation that America was in the 2000 election still stands, with a VERY slight advantage for the Republicans.

[Michael Barnes]

Furthermore, I don't think he'd be fool enough to pick Hitlery Clinton as his running mate--she is too divisive

She may be, but this goes much, much deeper. Clark was part of pulling the trigger at WACO. Clark was fired by Clinton. It's almost to hear the conversation in the Oval Office during Clinton's term, Clinton tell's Clark he's gotta fire him to Cover his (Cinton's) ass. In return, Clinton will make nice later. Or, Clark can have a nice plot at Fort Marcy Park.

Your looking at our contenders. Clark/Clinton '04. Hillary! needs Clark's legitamacy of military to make this work. Clark is a puppet. Hell, the guy was taken to the wood shed by the press once already when ambushed with questions and having to "call" someone to see if ti was okay to answer them.

Hillary! will run on the VP ticket, but ultimately own the Whitehouse behind the scene.

[NormsRevenge]

Hillary! will run on the VP ticket, .

---

I hope she doesn't toss out Nancy Reagan's china ... or did she already haul it off in January 2001:-?

[Jumper]

Clark only needs one type of right stuff, e.g., money and someone to endore him. He has no money.... But he has the Clintons! This is the Wrong Stuff and the entire Country will feel the pain should Bill & Hill swing this deal!!!

[concerned about politics]

The Bible says "fear not" 365 times.

[spokeshave]

Clark won't go anywhere unless he appears with Greyout Davis.

[concerned about politics]

Clark won't go anywhere unless he appears with Greyout Davis.

Speaking of Davis tax and spend, The press needs to ask Clark how he feels about universal health care (and gay marraige).

[Jumper]

I like the idea of a political general for the democrats to delude themselves with. Having spent 20-years on active duty, and another 8 years around DOD, coupled with the privilege of having served in a unit where Clark's travel budget was overspent resulting in no training as he prepared to leave NATO - I know this guy is fiscal loser, an idealogically out of step with reality loser, and being from Arkansas (Friend of Bill) makes him much too dangerous for even a democrat to consider.

[river rat]

I'm counting on Dean to rip the lower intestinal track out of Clark ---- the hard way!

This could be fun to watch, but keep the children away from the TV...

Just remember -- even Clinton would not leave Clark in command of NATO -- and now they present him as one who can lead the Nation!

Semper Fi

[Mike Darancette]

Gephardt, Graham and don't know suffered most.

[AntiGuv]

Actually, Dean probably suffered quite a bit as well. Note that the previous Newsweek figures are from all the way back in July. Dean's numbers have spiked in all the other polls since then, so if the Newsweek poll is giving Dean the same numbers in September as he had in July, he's probably losing support to Clark but it's just not obvious in superficial comparison.