Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (7020)	12/5/2003 6:40:05 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

Give it up AS, as I told to you months ago, Kerry is doomed. Kerry Withdrawal Contest Help him drop out now and avoid humiliation. By Mickey Kaus Updated Friday, Dec. 5, 2003, at 12:30 AM PT Kerry Withdrawal Contest: In part for reasons described in the preceding item, Democratic Senator John Kerry, once proclaimed the frontrunner in the press, faces not just defeat but utter humiliation in the New Hampshire primary. Is he really going to soldier on to finish in the single digits and get clobbered by both Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, if not one or more other candidates? Shouldn't he save his pride (and possible national political future, if only as a VP candidate) by withdrawing from the race before this harsh popular verdict is rendered? ... But what can Kerry say that isn't even more humiliating than seeing it through? "I realize my wife Teresa needs me more than my country needs me"? That won't cut it. "I've decided to take time out to learn the Web so I can compete in future campaigns" and "I'm entering rehab at an undisclosed location to recover from my vicious Ibogaine habit. I make no excuses" are too trendy. ... Let's harness the power of the Web and help Kerry speechwriter Robert Shrum with the dirty job that lies ahead for him. A copy of John Glenn: A Memoir to the reader who submits the best cover excuse that will let Sen. Kerry drop out of the presidential race before the voting actually starts while preserving his viability within the system. ... Void where prohibited.... My entry: "Because Howard Dean chose not to abide by the campaign finance law's limits, it's now clear to me that in order to compete I would have to spend unconcsionable amounts of my own money and jeapordize my family's and my children's future. This I will not do. I put my family before any personal ambition. I will dedicate the remainder of my Senate term to promoting a new, better campaign finance system to insure that no serious candidate is ever faced with this choice again." OK, so Kerry's wife Teresa is fabulously wealthy and the family would be in fine economic shape whatever happens (especially since Teresa can't waste her own assets on his campaign). Come up with a better excuse, then. ... 2:48 A.M. Dean, Clark, Hope for Sparks: The more I think about it, a turning point in the Democratic presidential campaign has to come with the first N.H. poll showing Clark ahead of Kerry and in second place. It could come any day now. Clark's only three points behind in one poll and only two in another. And Kerry's fading while Clark is rising. ... When the lines cross, several things will happen: 1) The main surviving rationale of Kerry's campaign--"I'm the electable alternative to Dean"--evaporates. It turns out there's a more electable alternative. Kerry's vote asymptotically approaches zero. 2) The #1 versus #2, Dean versus Clark match up will get lots of play in the press because Clark's strengths are Dean's weaknesses, yielding a story line that is simple and compelling: "Peacenik McGgovern II versus Electable Military Man. Which will the Democrats Choose?" ... 3) Clark will get a lot of favorable treatment in this new round of coverage--in part because the press feels guilty about giving Dean (as The Note notes) a relatively easy time so far, in part because the press wants a close race. If Clark's ready with an appealing message when the spotlight turns to him, he could give Dean a scare and at least come close enough to winning to get a boost for the post-N.H. primaries. ... P.S.: I flew this scenario by a number of knowledgeable political reporters at a party I was just at, and none of them bought it. So it's not the CW! It's quirky and contrarian! I want big points if it pans out. ... 2:21 A.M Article URL: slate.msn.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (7020)	12/5/2003 8:11:31 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Respond to of 10965

It`s all over for for American Spirit`s choice, American Spirit you can now get your tongue out of this guys ass.. It’s a rout: N.H. poll numbers: Dean 45%, Kerry 13% By David R. Guarino Friday, December 5, 2003 Staff shakeups, repeated theme changes and even a shiny new campaign bus have failed to stop Sen. John F. Kerry's New Hampshire nosedive, with polls now dropping him toward a pack of lesser hopefuls. Two new Granite State surveys give former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean a 30-point lead over Kerry seven weeks from the first-in-the-nation primary - a bitter fall from the double-digit leads Kerry held in his backyard turf early this year. ``With Kerry, his ads didn't work, his message hasn't worked, he's had problems with his campaign and he's never recovered from it,'' said pollster Dick Bennett of American Research Group. ``It's not over, but it's getting close.'' Added St. Anselm College political science professor Dante Scala: ``It's just astonishing given how far he's fallen this year in his back yard.'' The Manchester-based American Research Group poll showed Kerry losing to Dean by a staggering 32 points, 45 percent to 13 percent. More troubling for the Bay State senator, he is now statistically tied with retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark. A Zogby International poll revealed the same trend - Dean at 42 percent, Kerry at 12 percent and Clark at 9 percent. In the February Zogby poll, Kerry was beating Dean by 13 points. But Kerry also lost ground just in recent weeks as he has ``relaunched'' his campaign - falling from 17 percent in October to 12 percent in the Zogby poll and from 17 percent in November to 13 percent in the ARG survey. U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards trailed behind Kerry and Clark while the other candidates barely registered among voters. Kerry's campaign tried to brush off the surveys, promising to stage a comeback in the final breakneck weeks. ``John Kerry's life and his campaign are about standing up for what you believe in and fighting back even when the odds are stacked against you,'' said spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. ``Ask Bill Clinton, John McCain and Gary Hart how New Hampshire voters treat hard-charging comeback kids.'' Kerry immediately decided to alter his New Hampshire and Iowa television advertising - starting a new ad slamming President Bush's ``radical agenda'' - and, trying to draw press, set up what they bill as a ``major'' endorsement in Concord, N.H. today. Aides admit to a ``rough patch'' highlighted by the firing of Kerry's campaign manager and several attempts to jump-start the campaign. Most recently, Kerry launched the ``Real Deal Express'' bus caravan through New Hampshire. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) rose to Kerry's defense, predicting Dean will falter once voters realize he's not as liberal as they think. ``Howard Dean has historically not been the leftist he has now become,'' Frank said, likening Dean's situation to Oscar Levant's infamous remark about actress Doris Day: ``I knew her before she was a virgin.'' But analysts said Kerry's repackaging - bracketed by stepped up attacks on Dean - has only precipitated Kerry's fall. ``If it's not working, more of something that doesn't work isn't going to work any better,'' Bennett said. Dean's campaign said Kerry's attacks clearly aren't landing either. Clark, sensing a changing tide, yesterday tried to capitalize on the surge with stepped up rhetoric at Daniel Webster College in Nashua. He chided Bush's lack of military experience leading America into war in Iraq. And, in a veiled knock on Dean, who has no real foreign policy experience and got a draft deferment from Vietnam, Clark said Democrats can't win just by being anti-war and anti-Bush. ``It's not enough just to have the right answers, we've got to have the right candidate,'' Clark said. ``We've got to have someone with the standing, the credibility, the experience to go toe-to-toe, face-to-face with President Bush.'' Clark's campaign distributed poll results to reporters, noting that his 60-second ads had just hit the air in New Hampshire a week ago. Given his late entrance to the race this fall, aides said Clark is proving the best alternative to Dean in voters' minds. With Kerry's stumble, Scala said, that second place spot appears ``up for grabs.'' ( Elisabeth

To: American Spirit who wrote (7020)	12/5/2003 10:27:16 AM
From: mph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

<<"We got crowded out by the other events," he said. "Very simple. Crowded out by first the Internet and Dean and the war, and then crowded out by Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites), and then crowded out by the new face on the block [Clark]. Now's the time for people to focus and say who can be president.">> Kerry's already talking like a loser. The recall election was over in October. This is December. Dean used the internet from the git go. If Kerry was "crowded out", it's because he was not focused. Don't tell me you're switching back to Kerry now.