At the end of his 2004 campaign, Howard Dean started Democracy for America, billed as a grassroots Democratic political action committee "dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government."
Last week, DFA staged an online Dem presidential candidate 
preference poll. As a proud DFA member [meaning that I joined the email list], I just received the results of the poll. Hillary's advisers might want to dust off Hirohito's famous statement at the end of WWII to the effect that the situation "has not progressed entirely as we would have wished." Because Hillary finished in fifth place with 8.7%, behind Dennis Kucinich and barely one point ahead of Bill Richardson. Obama finished first with 28%, John Edwards a close second at 25%.
Now it's true that this is an unscientific poll, and that DFA surely attracts people from the liberal wing of the Dem party. But then again, isn't the conventional wisdom that Dem primary voters come from that same liberal wing?
Was DFA Executive Director Tom Hughes mortified by the results? He buried the mention of Hillary's embarrassingly bad performance in the eighth paragraph of his email! Then again, Hillary can take some comfort from the results: she's beating the pants off Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and someone named Mike Gravel!
So now the question is, will the MSM cover or bury Hillary's poll flop?
Poll results:
Barack Obama 28.1%
John Edwards 24.6%
Other 12.4%
Dennis Kucinich 10.3%
Hillary Clinton 8.7%
Bill Richardson 7.6%
Undecided 4.9%
Joseph Biden 1.9%
Christopher Dodd 0.5%
Mike Gravel 0.3%
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Won't be the first time an
March 23, 2007 - 10:00 ET by sarcasmoWon't be the first time an inconvenient 'net win for an underdog has been buried by the news media this season, so it's fitting that it's happening to "Constant Coverage," my unwitting antilibertarian media bias control-group. :)
JMR
Heart warming...but
March 23, 2007 - 10:06 ET by The Wicked ConservativeBoy that poll really just warms my heart this lovely Friday morning. Who will they blame in a dem primary when the exit polls are wrong though? Barack is just as scary though. He was found to be the most liberal senator in Washington.
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realizes that it bears a very close resemblence to the first.
- Ronald Reagan
Of course they will bury it.
March 23, 2007 - 10:06 ET by BlazerOf course they will bury it. The Clinton machine didn't strategically place all thier cronies in the MSM for nothing!
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
Who the hell is Christopher
March 23, 2007 - 10:07 ET by MightyMouthWho the hell is Christopher Dodd and Mike Gravel? Funny that "Other" beat the Hildebeast by nearly 4 percentage points! LOL!
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
Then again, Hillary can tak
March 23, 2007 - 10:10 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsThen again, Hillary can take some comfort from the results: she's
beating the pants off Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and someone named Mike
Gravel!
You forgot to mention she's also beating some dude named "Undecided".
D
A day without NewsBusters is like a day without sunshine.
undecided others
March 23, 2007 - 10:43 ET by Gary HallWell, she might have beat out "undecided," but she got walloped by "other."
One has to wonder, with such a long list of non-useful candidates, who others would be. Possibly, in time, the "undecided" can be coaxed into casting their vote for "other."
I think "None Of The A
March 23, 2007 - 10:49 ET by sarcasmoI think "None Of The Above" should be a choice in every election. If that ever happened (and it won't, I know) the next fun question is always "what if it wins?"!!! Alternatively, I'd enjoy the opportunity to subtract a vote from a candidate instead of voting "for" his/her alternative, leaving the possibility of the "winner" being the greater of two negative-numbers. Sounds like it would help some attitudes I've seen lately....
JMR
What a great idea. I would lo
March 23, 2007 - 11:28 ET by SouthJersey1953What a great idea. I would love to see the politician claim "voter mandate" when they win their seat with (negative)500 votes!
His madate would be "I
March 23, 2007 - 13:19 ET by MightyMouthHis mandate would be "I suck less then the rest!!"
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
I still say Condi should run
March 23, 2007 - 10:10 ET by mattmI still say Condi should run (or at least make it look like she might), just to test the waters and make some news and provide a stark contrast between a Black Republican woman who is actually succeeding based on merit, and a White Democrat woman who rode her hubby's coattails to the Senate.
Definitely Buried Deep
March 23, 2007 - 10:20 ET by OldSailor88This poll will get buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa, and Tom Hughes will probably die in a plane crash like so many other Clintonistas.
Mark did you just out yoursel
March 23, 2007 - 10:30 ET by Dan The Man 2Mark did you just out yourself as a covert agent for the DFA? LOL Dont know if I would want taht crap soiling my computer. These are polls before a whitewash job is done on Shillary by the MSM and dirt is drug up on both sides. This is going to be a fun season with lots of quote gathering for later use.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark. -- save my gun, shoot a liberal.
Online polls are worthless.
March 23, 2007 - 14:41 ET by Del DolemonteOnline polls are worthless.
This is kinda like how the Re
March 23, 2007 - 16:33 ET by rubylensThis is kinda like how the Republican "front runner," John McCain, consistently comes out near the bottom of virtually every online poll I've ever seen. He rarely breaks into double digits among the conservative "true believers" who tend to congregate online. I don't know who Rasmussen, et al, are polling that McCain seems to be doing so well in their polls, but it's not us! Same is apparently true for Hillary and the online Democrat faithful.
Mike Gravel!!
March 23, 2007 - 19:56 ET by w0tmMike Gravel? You never heard of Mike Gravel!! Uh, neither had I. www.gravel2008.us Could be he's not real. I wonder? The Web site has EVERY far left magnet. "Single Payer Health Care", "Orderly Withdrawal" (surrender) followed by "Aggressive Diplomacy" (not just plain old diplomacy), "Personally Took Down Nixon" (we needed one more claimant to reach an even 100,000), "Direct Democracy", "Hillary Coronation - Stop!", "Progressive National Sales Tax" (figure that one out!), "Stop Global Warming!". The list goes on and on. I can't find a single MoveOn.org wish list item missing!
Now this probably is real and the clueless guy probably really does think he has a chance (he's looking for 49 more state "chairpeoples" BTW if you'd like to volunteer - Virginia is already taken by his wife). But isn't this a great money making idea! Scam -- whatever. A make believe "dream candidate" touching EVERY hot button of the far left then prominently display a "CONTRIBUTE!" button. Then just sit back and watch you PayPal account runneth over!
Illegal?? Assuming the money instead actually goes to the end of the school year binge party at UCLA or something like that. But it still makes a heck of a lot more sense than giving money to Mike (who?) Gravel! If someone can make a million dollars by selling ad space by the pixel why not a fictitious "dream candidate" and a "send money" button? I give it an A+ for business idea of the year! Remember Pat Paulsen (Smothers Brothers) For President"?? He drew over 100,000 write-in votes each time he ran! So can Mike Gravel! AND have a heck of a (political) party!
Great Web blog on the site BTW - really active. The #1 topic just hit one comment. On a roll!
Mike Gravel
March 23, 2007 - 20:13 ET by gfrrmanHey, w0tm, hasn't Al "the liar" Sharpton already done that in the past Pres. races? Knowing he had no chance of winning, but sure pocketed some pretty decent "taxpayer campaign" money and rode of into the sunset. Even though "articulate, clean" Obama has stolen some of his thunder this time around, I'm still surprised he hasn't entered the race ala Mike Gravel. Collect some nice pocket change and move on....pretty sweet scam!!
I am shocked!!!!
March 24, 2007 - 16:22 ET by w0tmYou mean to tell me those $3,000 suits and huge diamond pinky rings that could feed/clothe/pay for (fill in the blank from any lib speech) did NOT come from his $100/month minister stipend?? I always listened to Al hoping he would tell us all how he and Jesse afford their Donald Trump lifestyles on poverty wages. Clean living and old-fashioned thrift I assumed but I've been waiting for some real "how to" help.
About like when some no good right wing nosey busybody reporter trailed Ralph Nader for a month and reported (only his paper printed it then he was fired) he only visited his $50/month flophouse room with just a mattress on the floor for photo ops but, otherwise, lived at a D.C. $3 mil condo the rest of the time. The reporter also discovered the $3 mil Condo plus about $10 mil in other investments are in his sister's name (who is employed by Ralph's non-profit foundation - must pay secretaries pretty darn good!). Including stock in, are you ready? --- Halliburton! And, and Exxon!!
This is the last straw. If you can't trust a "for the people", pure as the driven snow liberal, who can you trust? I'm switching to the Cartoon Channel. Darn. Al's there too. Might as well throw my hat in the ring. Got my PayPal account ready and working on my "Mother of All Campaigns" Website. "A Chicken In Every Pot". I'll start with that one then add every lib promise that's fooled idiots since 1932. Does the Internet have overload protection? It may need it if I list them all. I may not have enough time to compile them all with this being so close to election day.