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Lieberman is a contender; Kerry should quit

In an earlier Digressions... article I wrote my opinions on the 2004 Democratic candidates for President and listed them in the order in which I thought they would be after the first few polls. I thought (and as of today still think) Dean will win the nomination, even though I thought (and as of today still think) Lieberman would be the best President out of the Democratic candidates. (I'm a registered Republican, and consider myself conservative/libertarian. Unless something drastic occurs I will vote for Bush.)


A CBS/NYTimes poll released today is billed as evidence Howard Dean is pulling away from the rest of the Democratic candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Well, duh.

What I find more interesting is the lineup for the rest of the group. In case CBS removes the story from their archives, I'll repeat the results for Democratic nominee (among Democratic primary voters).

Choice for Democratic nominee

Howard Dean 23% =======================
Wesley Clark 10% ==========
Joe Lieberman 10% ==========
Richard Gephardt 6% ======
Al Sharpton 5% =====
John Kerry 4% ====
John Edwards 2% ==
Carol Mosley-Braun 1% =
Dennis Kucinich 1% =
Don't Know 28% ============================

Lieberman is doing surprisingly well. Having been a Vice-Presidential candidate in 2000 gives him name recognition, but I also think his unwavering support for the war in Iraq, plus Saddam Hussein's capture this past Sunday, makes him look like a credible candidate - indeed, makes him look presidential. To a lesser extent, a similar argument could be made for Gephardt.

The opposite must be said for Kerry. He's been waffling on the Iraq war, but after Hussein's capture Kerry has been trying to attack Dean for opposing the war. And on Sunday Kerry tried to claim some credit for Hussein's capture! I've got to give credit to Democratic voters who can see through Kerry's grandstanding. For heaven's sake, Sharpton polls higher than Kerry!