The Democrats' dilemma

[Tony]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1118/p01s03-uspo.html ...full article

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is far from over. There are two long months to go before the first votes are cast in the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses. A sizable portion of the Democratic electorate has never heard of many of the candidates.

In the wider Democratic universe, however, the prospect of a Dean nomination has sent some party members into paroxysms of private hand-wringing. Not only do they see him losing badly to Bush, they also see Dean hurting Democratic candidates further down on the ticket - rippling into congressional races, and possibly even boosting Republican control of the 100-seat Senate close to the crucial threshold of 60 seats, which would make it filibuster-proof.

Do any democrats here share these thoughts?

 

[hgc]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1118/p01s03-uspo.html ...full article

Do any democrats here share these thoughts?

I do have that fear, but I'm sure if that's how it would shake out.

First, it's far from a foregone conclusion that Dean will be the nominee.

If he is though, I don't know if this will go the McGovern route or the Carter route. At least Carter was a southerner, and the south was still Democratic territory. I wouldn't sell Dean short on his ability to articulate his message and capture the imagination of voters. I even think his hotheadedness will appeal to some. But things look very shaky for Democrats in the Senate anyway (Hollings, Miller, Edwards, etc not running again). I wouldn't be surprised with Democratic victory for the White House, and Republicans gaining in the Senate.

 

[Larspeart]

They are worried he is 'too liberal' for most democrats, and in particular, most independant swing voters. They see most of America as centrist or right of center right now, and fear that a left-wing candidate like him will turn off many swingers and centrist, thus putting Bush in office 4 more years. Also, they see it as having the long-term backlash of many voting republican in the senatorial races 2 years later to balance out the government.

They may indeed be right.

Frankly, the dems don't have one decent candidate right now.

I vote Libertarian or by conscious regardless.