Wash Post says Dem race Muddy, No clear Leader, no clesar anything.
By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2003; 12:00 AM
The Democratic presidential contest appears as muddied as ever, with nothing close to a consensus candidate yet emerging and large numbers of primary voters still uninspired and undecided about who should challenge George W. Bush next year.
One poll released this week, by independent pollster Zogby International, suggests that the overwhelming favorite of likely Democratic voters is "Not Sure" with 38 percent, followed by four candidates bunched up within the margin of error: former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean with 12 percent; retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark with 10 percent; Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) with 9 percent; and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) with 8 percent.
True enough, national polls matter less at this point in the game than polls from individual early voting states. But the picture is murky there as well, polls show. Rep. Richard Gephardt (Mo.) is leading Dean in Iowa. Dean leads the pack in New Hampshire, but Kerry is gaining on him. Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) is leading the pack in South Carolina, but doesn't seem to have caught on elsewhere. Clark, Dean and Lieberman appear to be battling it out in Arizona. |
