Posted on 11/17/2002 6:06:16 AM PST by kattracks
A shocking new poll of Democratic National Committee members shows that almost half want Al Gore to get lost in 2004, with nearly all DNC respondents saying they retain "great affection" for ex-President Clinton.
Gore received just 35 percent support from party insiders in the Los Angeles Times survey, with 48 percent telling the paper that he should sit out the 2004 presidential race.
The survey mirrors an October Gallup poll of Democrats at large, which found just 38 percent support for another Gore run - with 54 percent saying he should take a pass.
Asked who should be the party's standard bearer in 2004, a whopping 46 percent of DNC respondents said they had no preference. However Gore still topped the list of named candidates at 19 percent. The candidate with the next highest backing was Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, with 18 percent support.
Results of the Times poll were seriously skewed by the omission of Gore's main rival for the 2004 nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who remains the number two pick behind Gore in every survey of Democrats that includes her name.
While Mrs. Clinton insists she won't be a candidate in 2004, her husband told reporters earlier this year that her candidacy is a matter of "when, not if." At the same point in his own campaign for the White House, Bill Clinton also insisted that was not a candidate, promising Arkansans in Nov. 1990 that he would serve out his full four year term as governor.
Unlike Gore, Mrs. Clinton received some good news in the Sunday survey, with 96 percent of Democratic insiders telling the Times they have a favorable impression of her husband, whose presidency she co-managed. Only three percent gave Clinton an unfavorable rating.
The poll also found that Democrats do not blame her husband for the defeats suffered by the numerous candidates for which the former first couple campaigned in this year's election.
Asked if they thought Mr. Clinton should reprise his role in the 2004 race, an overwhelming 88 percent of party insiders said yes.
36 percent said he should campaign in all 50 states for the party's nominee. 52 percent said he should play a more limited role, campaigning in just "selected states."
Only 5 percent said Clinton should sit out the 2004 race.
A Quinnipiac College survey released last week showed Mrs. Clinton running against President Bush almost as well as Gore. In theoretical match-ups Bush beat Clinton 55 to 38 percent. He defeated Gore 54 to 41 percent.
The Los Angeles Times surveyed 312 Democratic National Committee members from Nov. 7-14. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.
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Excellent news that the DNC insiders are so divorced from reality. Clinton ought to campaign really hard everywhere again in 2004!
Big deal.
They have a lot more work to do before the come close to Saddam Hussein's record 100% victory in his last election (Democrats or Bath Party, same difference).
So far they haven't been able to djinn up a "mistake" they could get to stick, but they will keep at it until they do or till he actually makes one.
OTOH the Clintons may not have full control over the dynamics they have put in motion. Sometimes these things take on a life of their own. The black voters they bitch-slapped into staying home, just might remember. Evil allies sometimes get carried away and go too far or even turn out to have agendas of their own...
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