MSNBC – Newsweek Poll: Dean Rising

If an election were held today between Dean and Bush, the Vermonter would still likely lose (the president retains a 49 to 42 percent lead among all registered voters in a two-way race). A full 34 percent of all voters give Dean little or no chance of winning in a face-off against Bush.

Dean’s approval ratings may continue to climb, though, considering more than a third (35 percent) of registered Democrats consider Gore’s endorsement significant enough to make them more likely to vote Dean, and a majority (53 percent) of all registered voters think Dean has at least some chance of beating Bush in a hypothetical two-way election against Bush next year.

MSNBC – Can Bush Be Beat?
Vote in this poll.

If Howard Dean is the Democratic Party’s candidate for president next year, how much of a chance do you think he has of defeating George W. Bush in the November election – a good chance, some chance, very little chance, or no chance whatsoever? * 40 web responses

Democrats hurting selves with attacks – Opinion – thespectrum.com

This, of course, could splinter the party as voters tire of the internecine bashing.

For the Democrats to succeed, they must tone down the personal attacks and stick to the issues.

If not, the GOP will have a stranglehold on the White House for four more years.

On Dec. 12, 2000, a divided U.S. Supreme Court halted the presidential recount in Florida, effectively making Republican George W. Bush the ”winner.”

The judicious thing would have been to split Florida’s electoral votes. Gore would have won, just as he won the popular vote. mjh

Sharpton implores Dems to return to their liberal roots / ‘Stop apologizing,’ presidential hopeful says in S.F. speech John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer

The 2000 election, which was decided when the Supreme Court ruled against Democrat Al Gore in the Florida recount, ”was the undermining of democracy itself,” [Al Sharpton] said.

Since then, Sharpton added, ”there’s been a nonmilitary civil war led by the right-wing,” including efforts to put in a new, pro-Republican redistricting plan in Texas [and Colorado] and the successful recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

Now the Bush administration has put together a “no dissent” policy when it comes to the war in Iraq or the war against terrorism.

“We’re called unpatriotic if we question (the war in Iraq),” he said. “(But) we’re unpatriotic if we don’t question it.”

Dean’s Band of Outsiders By Harold Meyerson

By winning office with a negative 540,000-vote margin and then proceeding to govern in the most relentlessly partisan fashion from the right, the president has made unmistakably clear that the concerns of Democrats are of no interest to him. On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, the Republican leadership relies solely on Republican votes to get its measures passed, going so far as to exclude mainstream Democrats from conference committees. When America’s new laws are to be negotiated, Republicans talk only to themselves. …

In this Congress … no Democrats are allowed into the deliberations that matter. …

Bush is bent on repealing the New Deal and replacing the internationalist order that the United States had erected after World War II with a more nationalist vision of his own. If you aren’t with him, you are against him. And he is against you.

Remember in 2000, how Bush called himself “a uniter, not a divider” and touted his bipartisan efforts in Texas? Liar.

Meyerson goes on to explain why these facts have benefitted Dean, while many Democrats ignore these truths. (Thanks to Sharon for noting this article.) mjh